I'll Follow You Into The Dark
by BlueLLama9
Summary: What if, while begging Sasuke to not leave her, he actually decided to take her with him? What if Sasuke and Sakura descended into darkness together? AU in which Sasuke doesn't leave Sakura behind.
1. Little Brave Girl

**_Author's Note:_** I've always been fascinated by the idea of Sasuke taking Sakura with him, allowing her to be the only exception to every barrier he'd set against the world, so I hope everyone who reads this will be just as happy as I am to see this idea come to life.

* * *

_Thank you._

The two wonderful, warm words were swirling inside of Sakura Haruno's half conscious mind. All she could feel was the wind brushing on her skin, strong hands grasping at her legs and a ticklish sensation on her left cheek. Mind still fuzzy, she could only assume she was being carried on someone's back.

Voices would occasionally break the silence, mentioning words like "underground lair" and "Orochimaru". As Sakura's mind started to clear she only became more confused. Thinking back on her last encounter with Sasuke Uchiha, the boy she had been so desperate to keep home, she was firmly convinced she had not gotten through to him. So why was she waking up to this strange situation?

"I don't understand why you have to bring her with you. She's slowing us down significantly," said a feminine sounding voice.

"Complaining isn't going to speed us up. Just shut up and focus on taking me to Orochimaru," replied a voice all too familiar to Sakura.

Her body stiffened, realization crashing down on her. Sasuke, in spite of his behaviour and intentions, has taken her with him. Why had he knocked her out then, she wondered, if he never intended to leave her behind? No doubt the sudden change in her was noticed, but for whatever reason Sasuke chose to not outwardly acknowledge that he knew she was awake.

Well aware of the fact that she would get no answers by pretending she was asleep, Sakura inhaled deeply and, as quietly as she could, she asked:

"Sasuke..-kun?"

Eyes were on her the second she spoke. Neither Sasuke nor the other people Sakura could sense around her stopped running. Tension hung heavily in the air for a few long seconds, until Sasuke replied.

"You're awake." he said, simply.

Uncomfortable with the people around her, Sakura chose to remain silent for a while. Her eyes, now open, were adjusting to the morning light, and she realized she had no idea where they were or where they were headed.

As expected, Sasuke, too, remained silent, and Sakura received nothing but hostile looks from the odd people that were following the young Uchiha. Knowing all too well they could all hear her, even if she whispered, she still chose to continue asking her questions in an almost silent voice.

"I thought you were going to leave me behind. Why did you take me with you?"

For a few moments, Sasuke's hands tensing, applying a bit more pressure to her legs, was the only response that she received. She could not see his face, and even if she could, she figured there was not much she could read on his expression. For a brief moment her heart felt light, imagining a scenario in which Sasuke decided he couldn't possibly leave her behind. The moment of happiness was short lived, however, when Sasuke decided to speak.

"It would have been troublesome for you to wake up and tell the Hokage what happened."

Love stories of princes who could not leave their loves behind no matter what were a thing of the past for a kunoichi of Sakura's age, who was already acquainted with the harsh reality of the shinobi world. That did not, however, stop the pain she felt from being told she was there only in order for Sasuke to protect his goal. She was a nuisance he did not want that would only cause more problems if left behind.

"Why did you knock me out and act like you were going to leave me behind, then?" she asked, pleasantly surprised that she sounded more angry than sad.

"I didn't want you to see where we were going." he replied.

Sakura took note of the fact that he answered only half of the question. She did not push the matter, knowing Sasuke well enough to know that he would only get irritated. Conflicted, now that her head was clear, she realized that her conviction to stay by his side no matter what was strongly influence by her having to face his inevitable departure. Unsure of whether or not she was truly ready to leave her family behind, she felt deep desperation. It was replaced quickly with the determination that always seemed to overwhelm her when in Sasuke's presence.

She had a choice, and a very clear one. Depending on what was going to happen from now on, she could either support Sasuke or find a way back to Konoha carrying useful information about a very dangerous and important missing nin. All she had to do was wait and see which choice was the right one.

"I can run on my own now, Sasuke-kun." said the pink haired kunoichi in a clear voice.

Sasuke stopped suddenly, as did his companions, and he looked over his shoulder into her eyes. For a brief moment she could see doubt and his struggle over whether or not she could be trusted.

_Cautious as always, aren't you Sasuke? Even when it comes to me..._

Nodding, Sasuke let go of Sakura's legs, setting her free. After a few moments of stretching her stiff body, Sakura glanced at the other four... no, five people. They all looked like they would happily send a sea of unkind remarks in her direction, had it not been for the Uchiha's presence. Putting two and two together she figured they were supposed to be Sasuke's team, or bodyguards, sent by Orochimaru himself. Her eyes went back to Sasuke, who, looking incredibly impatient, turned around and took a step forward.

"Actually..." the large man out of the group started saying "it's good that we stopped. There's something we have to do, Sasuke-sama."

Surprised she had not noticed it before, Sakura's eyes landed on the large scroll the man with two heads was carrying. As she glanced worried between it and the man himself, he began explaining:

"Orochimaru-sama gave us an order, something we must do before bringing you to him."

"What is it?" asked Sasuke.

"You have to "die" once." the man said cryptically, half smirking.

Die? Why would Orochimaru want to kill Sasuke? Why would he go through all of this trouble only to murder him before he even got to his location? Sakura asked herself all of these questions in a fraction of a second, and before even realizing her body was moving she dashed between the man carrying the scroll and Sasuke.

Mocking laughter surrounded her instantly, but she did not falter. She had nothing but her bare fists, but she knew she had grown, even if only a little, and she would protect Sasuke.

Sasuke's hand was on her shoulder, his expression as stoic as always. He squeezed briefly before letting go, as if to tell her to calm down, then stepped in front of her.

"What do you mean, I need to die once?" he asked, irritated.

"Exactly what he said." replied the voice Sakura had heard earlier.

"Stop fucking around and explain already." threatened Sasuke, glaring at each of his companions one by one.

The man carrying the scroll began his explanation. He told a brief story of how himself and his brother, whom he introduced as Sakon and Ukon, along with the woman, Tayuya and the other two, Kidōmaru and Jirōbō, acquired their powers. They presented Sasuke with a small, glass bottle filled with pills meant to kill him, then explained how their barrier would lessen the effects and simply induce a deep coma, while the pill did its job and Sasuke's curse seal advanced to the next level.

Needless to say, Sakura was horrified by the notion of Sasuke dying or being in any kind of coma, the memory of him in a hospital bed for weeks, never waking up, still fresh in her mind. She wanted to protest as soon as Sakon finished his explanation, but Sasuke, as if he read her mind, shook his head at her before turning towards the rest of the group.

"How confident are you in your skills?" he asked.

"Don't worry, there's no chance you could die." answered Kidōmaru, the strange man with six arms.

As soon as he spoke those words, Sakon opened up the large scroll and summoned what looked like a large, wooden barrel with black markings surrounding it. Sasuke took one of the small pills in his hand and after looking around at his group for a short moment, he swallowed it and hopped into the container.

Standing back, Sakura observed Orochimaru's followers perform a series of complicated seals, and a dark smoke erupting out of nowhere. The smoke rose into the air, swirling up, almost like a tornado, then finally descending into the container Sasuke was inside of, darkening the top and being sealed by the tags Sakon released into the air.

When the barrier was completed, they all sighed with relief, looking slightly exhausted. Sakura stepped closer, feeling the need to protect Sasuke who was now more vulnerable than ever, and was met with amused looks. Scared and unsure, she decided the most important thing was to not show any of her emotions. She would stick with Sasuke, help and protect him, and she would sure as hell never allow Orochimaru to turn him into monsters like the ones currently looking down on her.

"Welcome to the group, little girl." said Kidōmaru mockingly "Let's hope Orochimaru-sama likes you."


	2. Leave Her Behind

Running for hours without an end in sight was a feeling Sakura had always enjoyed. Her training was always more focused on her mind rather than her body, but there was something about simply running, every muscle in her body being pushed to the limit, that she found exhilarating.

On this particular occasion, however, every moment felt like hell. Her eyes spinning madly, trying to take in all of her surroundings and every action of her enemies turned allies, gave her a headache unlike any other she's felt before. Her body was sore, speed taken down a lot by her lack of focus and her nervousness. She chanted inside of her head over and over that she had to adapt quickly or she wouldn't be able to protect Sasuke or even survive herself.

So she just ran, following people she did not know and did not trust, into a territory more dangerous than she had ever had to face before. Dark smoke kept leaking out of the barrel Sasuke was sealed into, reminding her that if anything went wrong, all of this was for nothing and she could be killed in an instant. She wondered how long until they would get to rest, if at all, and how close they were to their destination. The thought of asking any questions was terrifying, not knowing what kind of people she was dealing with, yet even so, dreading all those times she had put off practicing taijutsu, she bit her lip and pushed though her fear.

"How long until we arrive?"

She was once again met with hostility, but it was a valid question and all of them seemed as tired as she was, so Jirōbō, in an overly polite and forced tone, answered:

"We've made good progress and we're around half a day away."

"We should probably rest for a bit." added Sakon, who looked especially tired from carrying Sasuke.

The four of them seemed to work well as a team, despite the occasional insults thrown around by the red headed woman and the jabs they took at each other. Without a prompt, Kidōmaru began setting traps around the camp they had made, going as far as one mile away to make sure they'd get a warning in time, should they have been followed.

Sakura wondered if anyone knew where she and Sasuke had disappeared, if anyone had the smallest clue what was happening right now. Considering she was the only one to guess Sasuke's plans, and Naruto's infinite optimism, her guess would be that no one knew and they wouldn't know for at least another day or two. Her family was used to her randomly disappearing on a mission, and Sasuke had no one at home to wonder where he was. The thought made her shudder.

Determined to not allow her doubts and fears to overwhelm her, she walked over to where Sakon had set Sasuke down, and she sat in front of the container, focusing only on making sure nothing would happen to it. She was almost certain there would be no resting that night. Her allies were not even hers, but Sasuke's, and she could not let her guard down at all.

* * *

Hours later, Sakura could not tell exactly how many, the sun was barely peeking, ready to rise. She heard heavy breathing and even snoring around her, but her eyes never once moved from the container. It was smoking heavily, a thick, black substance that seemed almost like it was alive. Just as she was about to doze off, she was startled by a loud noise, coming from inside of it.

All of the thick smoke rose up at once, covering their surroundings entirely, and then disappeared, leaving no trace behind. As it cleared up, all that was left was Sasuke, standing outside of the barrel, looking nothing like himself.

Skin covered in the markings from his seal, one eye looking like that of a demon's, Sasuke stood in front of his five companions oozing power and bloodlust. Slowly, the marks expanded and soon his skin was an unhealthy looking gray, his body barely looking human.

Sakura sat up slowly, taking in the sight. Even with her minimal combat experience, she knew Sasuke had just gained twice the power had had before, and he was a strong shinobi to begin with. Silently, she stared until he was brought back from his deep thoughts. Cure seal now back to its original form, Sasuke looked displeased.

"I still need more." he said. "How much longer until we get to Orochimaru?"

"Not that long." answered Sakon while getting up.

The group was preparing to take off, and the effects of the sleepless night were not doing Sakura any favours. Her body felt heavy, her eyes ready to close and not open for a few hours. To her surprise, she found Sasuke staring at her with an expression she could not read, not because it was indifferent as always, but because she had not seen it before.

"Leave her. She'll only slow us down. We're far from Konoha and have a hell of a head start. She wasted an entire night watching over you so it's her fault, too." said Tayuya, while the others nodded in agreement.

Sasuke's eyes were locked on Sakura's, and she wondered how much it will hurt when he agrees with them, too. She raised her head slightly, preparing for the blow, when he said:

"I'll carry her."

Sakura's eyes were incredibly wide, for a second forgetting to keep a blank expression. She watched as Sasuke simply turned his back to her, positioned his hands near his body and waited for her to get up.

"I can run, Sasuke-kun." she tried convincing both him and herself.

He peeked over his shoulder, and only waved one hand around to make her hurry up.

"You look like you're going to collapse and it'll be faster this way, just get up." he replied.

Ignoring the fact that staying behind was the easy way out and that every muscle in her body wanted to run away from the enemies that were there and the ones that they would be approaching, she took a step forward and climbed onto Sasuke's back, resting her forehead on his neck.

Cheeks burning red, she did her best to conceal her embarrassment and nervousness. Mentally scolding herself for still feeling like this in her current situation, she allowed herself to rest, feeling safer with Sasuke now awake and strong enough to defend himself.

* * *

His speed was unreal. Trees were mixing with each other, forming one continuous string of brown and green, making Sakura dizzy whenever she opened her eyes to see where she was. She felt Sasuke slow down occasionally, only to look back and check if the direction they were headed in was correct.

Arms wrapped tightly around his neck, Sakura tried to focus on the one thing that had been bothering her ever since this entire chaotic situation started. Sasuke's thank you. It was strange, him being so open, and she wasn't even sure what she was being thanked for. It sounded more like a goodbye than anything, yet here she was, on his back, following him on his path for revenge. Perhaps she had imagined it, made it up to comfort herself, she thought, although something at the back of her mind was telling her that was not the case.

"Sasuke-kun?" she asked quietly, her lips almost touching his ear.

His reply was almost inaudible, but she was certain from the vibrations in his neck that he had replied with one of his trademark "hn" sounds.

"Thank you, for carrying me. I know this would all be going faster without me."

It had to have been her imagination, but for a second, when she spoke those words, Sasuke's shoulders tensed up and his speed decreased by just a little. Sakura felt a slight vibration under her arm which she took as Sasuke's reply. Smiling to herself, she propped her head on his back and rested her eyes, thinking that maybe, even in a situation like this one, Sasuke could remain the same Sasuke she'd come this far for. Never once did it cross her mind that she herself might change instead.


	3. New Home

The whole journey had been dreadful. Between running away from home, dying once and joining one of the most notorious missing nin, Sasuke Uchiha was feeling quite irritable and exhausted. The only comfort he currently had was the warm weight on his back. His pink haired teammate whom, for a reason he did not know - or want to admit - was there with him on this dangerous mission.

Slowing down his pace to fall behind his new followers, Sasuke had plenty of time to think things over. It was incredibly clear to him that he needed to get stronger and it needed to be done fast, and in order to do that, bonds like the one he had with his team had to be cut off.

So, then, why was Sakura's breath currently warming the back of his neck? Sasuke pondered that question since he decided to bring her along. It was true that taking her along reduced the risk of getting caught, but he could have left her somewhere along the road to find her way back. It would have been enough.

_She could be useful._

The thought crossed the Uchiha's mind briefly, but again, he knew that was not it, and as they neared the edge of the forest they had been running through, his eyes landing on what he suspected was the top of an underground base, he admitted to himself, reluctantly, that she was a comforting piece of home he did not want to let go of yet.

* * *

Eight hours have passed since Sasuke emerged from his container. They had taken only one break since resuming their journey. Now, after carrying Sakura for hours, Sasuke barely seemed out of breath. The pinkette climbed down from his back and looked at her teammate in awe, realizing perhaps for the first time the extent of his strength.

Sensing a sinister aura surrounding them, she knew they had arrived, and having to face the reality of it, she also realized that there was no assurance she would not be disposed of. After all, it was Sasuke that Orochimaru wanted, and she had no special talents to buy her a place by Sasuke's side. A pit formed in Sakura's stomach and she instinctively took a step closer to him, the only safety she felt was left.

As if on cue, two men emerged from the shadows of the trees. The threatening aura was not unfamiliar to Sakura, having felt it before during the chuunin exams when she had to face Orochimaru, who was at the time pretending to be just an ordinary examinator. However, his appearance was different. He had short, light coloured hair, wore a simple, black robe and was covered almost entirely in bandages.

Hid almost entirely behind Sasuke, Sakura peeked over his shoulder at the other man approaching them. Yakushi Kabuto. Intelligent, strong and a good liar. That was all Sakura knew about him. He seemed uneasy, and as they came closer, the mood of Orochimaru's other followers changed to a tense one as well, and while the missing nin's eyes seemed clear as day, the atmosphere made her expect some sort of outburst.

"Sasuke-kun, how nice of you to join us." he spoke calmly while looking over at the rest of the group. "I see you brought along a friend."

Sasuke did not reply, only moving his head to look up at the man he came all this way to train with. Sakura could not see his face, but from his posture, it almost seemed like he was challenging Orochimaru.

"Nice to see you again, Sakura." said Kabuto, looking at her with a somewhat intrigued expression.

"Kabuto-san." she replied, too unsure to speak more than the one word.

"As you can see," Kabuto continued. "Orochimaru-sama was forced to go ahead and perform the jutsu early."

Sakon and the rest of the group, aside from herself and Sasuke, bowed deeply in response. Apologies were made for being too late, angry looks were exchanged, all of this leaving Sakura completely lost. After the short exchange, the four followers that had brought them here left quickly, leaving Sakura, Sasuke, Orochimaru and Kabuto alone.

"I wasn't aware we were getting an extra... companion." said Orochimaru as soon as the others left.

His intense eyes made Sakura's knees feel weak, looking through her, more than at her. She nodded, although she wasn't sure why. She figured she couldn't spend her time here being visibly terrified, so, bracing herself, she chose to spoke.

"I refuse to let Sasuke-kun come here all by himself." she said, and though her statement was brave, her voice did not do it justice.

Orochimaru chuckled shortly, then shook his head slightly.

"I do not take in strays, child. You will have to earn your keep. Now come."

Not waiting for a reply, he took off, closely followed by Kabuto. As she stepped forward to follow them, Sasuke grabbed her arm, holding her next to him, and said:

"You should go back, Sakura."

* * *

Eyes locked with hers, Sasuke observed Sakura's reaction. She was like an open book sometimes, her bright green eyes speaking when her mouth could not. She was very obviously considering it, and a voice in Sasuke's head was telling him he didn't really want her to, but he ignored it and pushed forward.

"You don't know where the base is hidden, so you should be fine to just go. We're probably going to be moving anyway."

To Sasuke's surprise, her expression became almost unreadable and as harsh as any he's ever seen before. It was almost as if he made her angry, which confused him to no end. He let go of her hand, waiting for her response and quickly glancing at Orochimaru and Kabuto in the distance, and was surprised to hear her speak in a serious tone.

"I have agreed to abandon my home, have felt terrified and uneasy and I spoke up to a man that could make me disintegrate with one look so please, Sasuke-kun, do not insult my resolve."

And with those words, she grabbed his hand tightly and pulled him forward, leading the way into what could very quickly turn into hell for the both of them. He was glad, though, and he hated to acknowledge the feeling, that he was not alone.

* * *

The inside of the base was mostly dark, seeing as it was located underground. Torches were hanged on the walls following no apparent pattern, illuminating the passageway to what Orochimaru described as their sleeping quarters.

Hearing only the echoes of their footsteps, Sakura focused on formulating a plan. She decided protecting Sasuke was her priority, but it would be hard considering she was both weak and unprepared for this situation. She also knew this wasn't a resort, and if she wanted to stay, as Orochimaru put it, she would have to earn her keep. What that meant, she did not know, but she was sure she would do anything to be able to get stronger and accomplish her goal.

They stopped right in front of a wooden door at the end of the hallway. There were a few small holes in it, allowing Sakura to see that there was no light coming from the inside of the room.

"You can stay in here. Orochimaru-sama has many loyal servants, many of which spend their time in his presence, so we can't spare more than one room." said Kabuto while handing Sasuke the candle he had been carrying.

"Make yourself at home." added Orochimaru with a smirk, looking intensely at Sasuke from head to toe.

As he and Kabuto turned around, ready to leave, Sasuke turned his head and spoke:

"When do I get to train?" he asked.

Orochimaru, halfway turned towards the young Uchiha, looking extremely pleased and perhaps even lustful, replied with a short:

"Soon."

* * *

Moments later, Sasuke and Sakura were inside of the room, awkwardly sitting on their respective beds, not knowing how to fill their time. Exploring the room took a half a minute at most, considering there were only two beds, a wooden table in between them with half a dozen candles plus a support for them and two blankets and pillows at the end of each bed.

Sasuke glanced over at Sakura a few times, thinking how alien she looked in this setting. He was a bit worried about her being there, knowing full well he was the one that brought her along, and also fully aware he could not protect her at all times should it come down to it. Frustrated with himself for not understanding his own actions and emotions, Sasuke fell on his back, turning around to face the wall, and decided he might as well rest. Training with Orochimaru would be the priority from now own, becoming stronger through any means.

"Sleep well, Sasuke-kun." he heard Sakura say.

"Hn." he responded, just loud enough for her to hear.

In the dark, listening to her body more on the bed, he considered for a moment how much harder this was for her, and how she stubbornly said she would stick with him no matter what. So, very quietly, and hoping she couldn't hear it, he added a very quiet:

"Thank you."


	4. Okay then

Physical training was first. Sakura mostly observed, for the first few weeks, how Sasuke pushed himself beyond his limits ten times over, to the point where she would have to half carry him back to their room. Orochimaru had no mercy, and his training was tougher than Sakura thought anyone could ever endure.

Day after day, Sasuke would get up as early as the sun and go train, either with Orochimaru or on his own until his new sensei would have time. It was a routine, like any other, that they had both gotten used to. The atmosphere, while still intense and uncomfortable, became more bearable and sometimes even pleasant, when both Sasuke and Sakura were so busy and focused on what they were doing that they forgot where they were and why they were there.

Sakura, as promised, did not get to stay for free. She was like a very underqualified assistant to Kabuto, helping out with his research and experiments. There were, of course, few things she could do even if she wanted to be helpful, considering she couldn't be trusted. Hours and hours would pass in a cold, dark room underground, where Sakura sat and read, took notes and examined various scrolls. Even though she was stuck in there because all the other work was top secret and being kept away from her, it was the one place where she felt entirely comfortable, when alone, and like she could actually be useful.

Most areas of the base were forbidden to her, yet even so she could never completely escape the reality of what kind of people she was living with. Moans and groans, sometimes even screams, came from behind the closed doors Sakura dared not open. Clothes stained with blood, random jars containing organs appearing around the research room. All of it gave Sakura nightmares, and however used to it she might be by now, the sounds still sent shivers down her spine.

The rest of her time she spent watching Sasuke train, trying to stop him from exhausting himself and almost always failing to do so, occasionally joining in, when she felt it was necessary to keep him from working too hard, because he always goes easy on her no matter what state of mind he is in. This proved to be beneficial to both of them, even if Sasuke didn't progress the way he would have wanted to while training with her, now being able to read each other's movements perfectly.

Soon enough, though, the experiments started. A full six months after the daily training sessions began, Sasuke completely snapped, and in one of his rare displays of strong emotions, he demanded that Orochimaru speed up the process. Pleading and begging did nothing, to Sakura's dismay, and having to witness strange substances injected into Sasuke's body and the horrifying tests that followed probably shortened her life span by fifty years.

Wake up. Eat. Train. Get tested. Get experimented on. Suffer the consequences. Try to swallow any kind of food. Be dragged back to bed. That was Sasuke's life from then on, and on one particular night, Sakura swore she would do everything in her power to stop it.

Walking through the dark corridor, Sasuke slumped on Sakura's back while shivering and sweating profusely, Sakura felt like the entire world, not just her weakened teammate, was leaning on her shoulders. Kicking the door open and walking Sasuke to his bed, she felt about as bad as he looked.

"Sasuke-kun, how much longer are you going to do this?" she asked, voice almost breaking.

Laying on his back, arm covering his eyes, Sasuke remained silent, biting his lip. Sakura's heart broke when she realized he was not silent by choice this time, but because it hurt to even breathe. She screamed at Kabuto numerous times, demanding that he use his medical ninjutsu on Sasuke when he was like this, but the man always claimed to be too busy, that it was Sasuke's choice and he should suffer the consequences or that, very plainly and simply, it was none of his business.

"As long as I have to." Sasuke replied finally, sounding out of breath.

Sakura sat on the floor in front of his bed and reached out to squeeze Sasuke's free hand, as she always did when he was feeling so ill. She placed her forehead on their intertwined hands and whispered softly:

"I hate seeing you torture yourself like this."

"You know why I have to do it," he said, squeezing her hand back weakly.

Moving her head slightly to look up at him, Sakura couldn't help but appreciate how open Sasuke had learned to be with her. Six months ago he would have locked her out of the room to avoid being seen in such a weakened state, and he surely wouldn't speak openly about himself, so even under the current circumstances, she was glad they had this. She couldn't even remember how it began, but gradually, he admitted to having an occasional headache, or randomly decided to answer one of her more personal questions, or even allowed her to hold his hand. Small insignificant gestures for most people, but certainly not for them and especially not for Sasuke.

"Will you please do something for me, then?" she asked, locking her eyes to his.

He raised his eyebrows slightly instead of replying, waiting for her to continue.

"Take a break. A few days until you're better. You're not getting stronger when you can't even speak."

Asking Sauke Uchiha to take a break and not pursue his goal obsessively was like asking him to stop breathing. Well aware of that fact, Sakura still tried, and sometimes, to her delight, he actually listened.

"Fine. Just a few days." he answered grumpily, making Sakura smile.

As soon as those words left his mouth, she shot up from the floor after giving his hand one last squeeze. Leaving Sasuke to rest, convinced he wouldn't do anything reckless, she ran out the door and wandered around trying to find Kabuto.

Twenty minutes of almost getting lost brought her to a corridor she was sure she was not allowed to go down. Guided by the distant groans of a man, she stepped through the dark, hoping she would not stumble upon Orochimaru, a man she still tried to avoid whenever possible. Pausing in front of a room she had never been in before, she took a deep breath, hoping the request she was about to make would not be denied.

As her hand made contact with the door handle, the door was opened by none other than Kabuto who, for a moment, looked horrified to see Sakura there. Pushing her aside, quickly closing the door behind him, he grabbed Sakura's hand and dragged her away.

"What do you think you're doing?" he spat out angrily.

Breaking free of his hold, Sakura crossed her arms in front of herself and gave him a hard, angry look. Fighting with him certainly wasn't the plan, but her stubbornness always got the better of her, and at the very least she had to stand her ground.

"Looking for you, obviously."

He gave her a sceptical look, most likely suspecting she was trying to spy on him. After a few moments of silence, he sighed and relaxed somewhat, pushing back his glassed and looking down at Sakura with a calmer expression.

"I apologize for losing my temper. What do you want from me?" he asked.

"I want you to train me to become a medical ninja." Sakura answered as if she was speaking about the weather.

Kabuto's eyes widened for a moment, then, his shocked expression was replaced by a smug, somewhat amused one. Raising one eyebrow, he moved his hand to the back of her head, untying the Konoha headband she was still wearing everyday. Taking it in his hand and waving it around he said:

"Now, why would I train someone who is loyal to an enemy, to Konoha?"

Images of her home flashed before Sakura's eyes in a short moment, things like her mother and father, Naruto and Kakashi sensei, Ino and the flower shop her family owned, the Konoha Academy and all the places she missed so dearly. They were quickly replaced by images of Sasuke, some of the missions they had been on together, some Sakura had imagined, of a little Uchiha boy left alone in the world and lastly, of Sasuke laying on his bed shivering, tortured daily for the one goal he chose to follow.

Grabbing the Konoha headband, Sakura looked at it for a while, then threw it behind her, in the dark corridor, far beyond where the torch light could reach.

"I'm loyal only to Sasuke-kun." she said, calmer and more determined than ever.

Analysing her expression and answer for a short time, Kabuto chuckled shortly then nodded his head towards the other end of the corridor, where they should be heading. As they began walking he said:

"Okay then. We start tomorrow."


	5. Scoot Over

**Note**: I guess it's time to get a little personal to explain why I update irregularly and probably will continue to do so. My father passed away a little over a month ago, and while writing is a great escape for me, and SasuSaku one of the things that brings me genuine joy, sometimes it's hard to write while being emotionally unwell. I hope you understand and enjoy what I put up.

* * *

It felt wrong. Sasuke's entire body felt unnaturally heavy, like he was carrying weights embedded into his skin. The reaction to the strange substance he had been injecting into himself was odd, part of him being able to feel his stronger muscles, his new agility and increase in chakra, but at the same time, it felt like he had been poisoned, and the effects didn't seem to want to go away at all.

Daily, he would get up, try to train, find himself exhausted after the most basic of exercises and he would give up, but not before draining himself completely. Frustrating as it was, he had to admit that until his condition improved there was no use in straining himself, so, for a little while, he needed to shift his attention to something else.

Having only one thing to think about aside from his life goal, his thoughts automatically shifted to Sakura and her strange behaviour as of late. She had stopped wearing her headband, looked about as tired as he was, sporting dark circles the size of his fist, and most importantly and the most un-Sakura-like characteristic, she barely talked to him.

Worrying was not something Sasuke was used to, having few things to worry about and no reason to not push aside the annoying feeling when it showed up, but when it came to the pink haired girl he had dragged into this place, he was directly responsible for anything that happened to her. Yet, in spite of the deep pit in his stomach and the guilt whenever he saw her declining state, he couldn't bring himself to say anything to her.

Almost seven months had passed since he had deserted Konoha, and thinking back on the night he had done it, for the millionth time, the young Uchiha had to admit that he did not even want to imagine how excruciating this entire experience would have been without Sakura, who selflessly gave up everything to be by his side. Now, the only problem was showing that gratitude outwardly.

* * *

The feeling was so overwhelming. So empowering and delightful. The glowing chakra, creating warm waves on Sakura's hands. The prickling feeling in her fingers as it was released onto the fish laying in front of her. It felt like being a god, temporarily, like she could continue breathing life into something, or if she chose to, let it die.

Splendid chakra control and natural talent, the two things helping along Sakura's progress. As noted by Kabuto, she was improving faster than anyone he had ever seen before, and while reluctant to teach her anything actually useful, seeing as she was still not a person he could trust, he admitted he couldn't allow such talent to go to waste.

Surprising both of them, Sakura's training sessions created a very odd bond between her and Kabuto. Still strained by the lack of trust and past issues, they shared a genuine interest and excitement for knowledge and medicine, which in turn gave them one thing they could discuss freely.

Around the end of the third week of training, it was clear that Sakura had the potential to become an extraordinary medic in less than half of the time it would normally take.

"I must say, Sakura, this is indeed remarkable." said Kabuto at the end of another exhausting day.

"It's all thanks to the things I learned while being here. Memorizing all of the scrolls, knowing exactly what to do, healing now feels like second nature." Sakura replied, uncomfortably.

Her training consisted of more than basic medical techniques and chakra control. Unfortunately for her, if she wanted to start training seriously, she would have to follow Kabuto into one of his more unpleasant tasks, practicing on the various people, seeing as this was the only way Kabuto could dedicate more than a few hours a day to helping her, and how it would be useful to know more than the average medic whose morals were probably intact.

"Okay. We'll resume tomorrow. I have to go see one of the... patients on the lower levels."

He nodded politely and left the room in a hurry. Feeling uncomfortable and a bit disgusted with some of the things she had agreed to do, she couldn't help but also think of Kabuto's passion for learning and his devotion to Orochimaru. Alone with her thoughts, Sakura had time to ponder over the fact that it was so easy to dehumanize someone. Not seeing Kabuto, or anyone, as simply the enemy complicated things greatly, but it was certainly the truth that things were always more complex than simply being black and white. She thought she could understand Sasuke better, too, if only a little, him being a person who looked beyond such trivial ways of thinking.

Looking back on everything that had happened, Sakura thought that maybe there was no bad or good, only individual opinions and what people found acceptable.

* * *

Awake again, in the middle of the night, unable to ignore the pain in his skull and muscles, Sasuke sat up from the bed and fumbled in the dark, trying to feel the table for the small pills Kabuto had given him for the headaches. Swallowing one without water, he only felt like his condition was getting worse and ungracefully allowed himself to fall on the cold floor, feeling frustrated and perhaps a bit afraid.

In that moment, the door to his room opened and in came Sakura, carrying an almost burnt out candle illuminating her face. Tried green eyes widened upon seeing Sasuke, and he almost felt like laughing for a reason he did not understand. Rushing to help him up, she started asking more questions in a few seconds than she had in the past three weeks.

"Sasuke-kun? What happened? Why are you up? Did you take anything? Have you tried training? Did Orochimaru give you anything else?"

All of it flew out of Sakura's mouth in a desperate voice ready to break. It still baffled Sasuke sometimes, both how much she cared for him and how easily she could show it.

"I just took one of those pills." Sasuke, now standing up, said as he was pointing towards the table.

Sakura walked him to the bed and pushed him on it, her eyes examining him from top to bottom, hands checking his pulse and temperature simultaneously. Sasuke couldn't help but be impressed with the attitude she had taken on, looking exactly like a doctor, only her expression was strained by the obvious feelings she had for him and her excessive worries.

"Where does it hurt?" her question echoed in the almost empty room.

Everywhere, he wanted to say, but instead he placed his hand on his forehead and moved it to the left side of his head all the way to the back, where his skull felt like it was pulsating.

Not a moment later, Sakura's hand was on his forehead, and for perhaps the first time in years Sasuke's expression was completely unguarded, showing his amazement, as the green, glowing chakra made its way into his body, slowly taking away the pain, starting with the surface, then warming up the deepest part of what felt like an endless pit of agony.

* * *

Shying away from a look Sakura thought was filled with pride, she focused on what she had learned, and most importantly, that Sasuke found out about it. Not sure why she wanted to keep it a secret, she had decided Sasuke would find out only when she was strong enough to help him, and this certainly wasn't enough. But Sakura's resolve crumbled at the sight of such a vulnerable Sasuke.

He closed his eyes slowly, and his body became more relaxed with every second that passed. Breathing more evenly, Sasuke opened his eyes and gave Sakura a questioning look, waiting for an explanation that he most definitely deserved, seeing as she had ignored him for almost a month.

"I was waiting to show you, not tell you, until I could be of use. I asked Kabuto-san to train me."

A slight head movement was Sasuke's only reply. He seemed thoughtful and distant for a second, then he shook her hand off and said:

"It's okay, Sakura. It doesn't hurt anymore."

Relieved, she exhaled loudly, and, ready to move to her own bed and get some rest, she got up. All of a sudden, though, Sasuke's face changed completely, his eyes shut tightly, nose crinkled, looking like all the pain had flooded right back into his head. Desperate, Sakura sat back down, placing her hand right back on his forehead and said:

"Scoot over."

Sasuke's reply came an entire thirty seconds later, finally looking okay again. His eyebrows shot up, but he moved over nonetheless, and Sakura climbed up into the bed, pulling Sasuke over to her lap and placing both hands on his head, allowing chakra to flow at a steady pace.

"I'll stay like this until you fall asleep, so try to relax." she said, hoping he would be able to do that soon.

Sasuke, looking slightly uncomfortable from their close proximity, closed his eyes and followed her suggestion. Allowing herself a small moment of weakness, she felt the happiness burst inside of her at the thought that she could help Sasuke, if only a little. Determined to continue growing, becoming stronger and more helpful for the both of them, she shut down the childish desire to jump up with joy at her small accomplishment, and focused on Sasuke's chest going up and down steadily.

"Sakura?" asked Sasuke in a sleepy voice.

"Mhm?"

He paused, awkwardly tapping her leg, probably his attempt at an affectionate gesture, and then said:

"Thank you."


	6. Revenge And Pink Hair

**Note**: Thank you for the kind words and all of the feedback. Seeing as inevitable canonization is upon us, I'm more excited than ever about both canon SasuSaku and my version of it. As always, have fun reading and enjoy.

* * *

Sakura's chakra reserves were draining fast, and even with her near perfect control, she knew she would be in trouble should she continue performing the jutsu. The risk was forgotten, however, every time she would resume from the small breaks she would take, and Sasuke's restless sleep would turn into a peaceful one, taking away the frown he wore even in his sleep.

Unsure how much time had passed since Sasuke fell asleep, she still knew this was probably more rest than he had managed to get in weeks. To say that was worrying was an understatement, and it made her all the more eager to develop her skills and help keep the pain away for good.

While worrying about Sasuke's condition, she also began to wonder why Kabuto had been so stuck on refusing to help with easing her teammate's pain. It was a fact not easy to forget nor ignore that Orochimaru's intention was not just to make the last remaining Uchiha stronger out of the goodness of his heart but because he wanted to take over Sasuke's body for himself. The thought made Sakura shudder every time, and it also brought on thoughts of improving her combat skills as well as her medical ninjutsu. No matter how big the difference in skill, she refused to go down without a fight.

Thoughts returning to Kabuto and his unusual and seemingly disobedient behaviour, she wondered if this was not some sort of test. With her new-found knowledge, Sakura knew that while Sasuke's condition was bad, and it would persist, it would not kill him. Judging by his symptoms and the poisons she herself had seen Kabuto work with, she guessed Sasuke had some sort of harmful substance in his system, probably given to him at the same time as the medicine that was supposed to help with his unnaturally fast growth.

The answer seemed obvious now, and Sasuke being poisoned for whatever twisted reasons Orochimaru would use to justify it did no sit well with Sakura at all. However, marching into Kabuto's lab and making demands based on speculations was not an option either, so, the only solution Sakura could think of was to try and get rid of the problem herself.

"Sasuke-kun?" she spoke softly, dreading to wake him.

His senses as sharp as ever, Sasuke woke as soon as Sakura spoke the first letter of his name. He looked up at her through sleepy eyes and Sakura's heart melted at the sight of a well rested and unguarded Sasuke. She knew the feeling of being the only one Sasuke allowed himself to drop his guard around would always make her feel overwhelmed and warm inside.

His response was a groan as he tried to get up. Still having Sakura's hand on his forehead, pumping warm chakra slowly, he moved around until he was sat down next to her, his back against the wall.

"I think I know why you're not getting better." she said, watching him carefully.

Sasuke raised his eyebrows, waiting for an explanation.

"When I first started training with Kabuto-san, he only gave me simple things to practice on, so I had plenty of time to pay attention to what he was doing. This one time, he gave a small rodent water mixed with a brown substance. I still see it whenever I go into his lab, and it looks horribly sick but nowhere near death."

As she finished telling him about the rodent, understanding flooded Sasuke's face. Whether the same thing was in Sasuke's system or not, it was clear Kabuto did have such poisons and if it was needed, he would surely use them on Sasuke.

"Orochimaru wants to expand my limits." said Sasuke after a somewhat long pause.

"What do you mean?"

"He wants his vessel to build resistance to all kinds of things, like poisons for example." he explained.

Disgust did not describe what Sakura was feeling accurately enough. To think that Orochimaru would play around in such a cruel way even with what he wanted the most was disturbing to say the least. Although, the more Sakura thought about it, the more it made sense that he would do such a thing. Sasuke's eyes, after all, should all else fail, could be transplanted.

"How do we stop it?" asked Sasuke.

Sakura's heart tightened in her chest, overwhelmed by the trust which resonated in Sasuke's words, yet scared by her own inexperience and the possibility of doing more harm to him if she failed. Looking away, self doubt replaced what before was confidence that she could learn to do anything, and asking herself why did she even bother, she felt like she did most of the time. Like no matter how many steps forward she would take, the world around her took even more and she remained behind, never progressing fast enough.

"Sakura."

Her name spoken softly by Sasuke brought her back to the present, pulling her away from her dark thoughts. Sasuke trusted no one. Sasuke wanted to become strong and kill his brother more than anything. It was a fact Sakura was aware of all the time, sometimes feeling like the young Uchiha was not even there with her, but constantly living the inevitable future over and over again to the point where his surroundings were completely forgotten. But Sasuke, of all people, would trust her inexperienced self to experiment on him, because she could not call it anything else.

"I know of a way to remove poison from your system, but, Sasuke-kun, I only ever read about it, I don't have the smallest clue if I could-"

"You can. You don't sleep three hours a night and work yourself half to death to say you can't." he interrupted her.

The rest of the sentence stopped in Sakura's throat, almost entirely forgotten due to the fact that Sasuke noticed how hard she had been working, even if he did not know what for until hours ago. It was a strange thing, being complimented by the Uchiha, seeing as most of the time it didn't sound like a compliment, but Sasuke was Sasuke, and him acknowledging how hard she had been working reminded her what she was working so hard for.

"Follow me, then." Sakura spoke in a determined voice, all traces of self doubt erased from her expression.

* * *

His muscles felt like they were being sliced through with every step he took. His head felt heavy, like he had weights wrapped around his skull. Sasuke had to go as far as having to concentrate on the process of putting one foot in front of the other to able able to walk in a straight line.

The thought that he was being tested in some way had crossed his mind before, and he told himself he'd go through with it, pretend he was ignorant, so long as it meant Orochimaru would pay even more attention to his training once he passed. This, however, was ridiculous. It completely stopped his progress, and he knew if he ever wanted to surpass his brother he needed to do things his own way.

Their own way, whispered a small voice at the back of his head, the one that would never allow him to forget Sakura, who was currently expertly navigating the dark halls of the lower level of the hideout.

As the pink hair occasionally brushed against Sasuke's exposed arm, he realized that there was no more keeping Sakura out of it. Revenge had always been a personal, private thing, something he could accomplish only himself and by himself, yet he'd carried a sleeping Sakura out of Konoha into a place not even he would have wanted to be in, were it not for the fact that this was the best place to get strong fast. He had mixed the two together and now, there was no going back. The harshness that sometimes appeared on his pink haired companion's face and her slowly changing attitude were proof of that. It occurred to Sasuke that among the things he was occasionally missing, Sakura's cheerfulness and attempts to pull him into a normal life with dates and her innocent crush made it near the top of the list.

"Do you regret choosing to stay?" Sasuke asked suddenly, startling Sakura.

Her expression changed so little, Sasuke wondered if this was Sakura at all, yet he could still pick up the subtle changes, like how her muscles tensed just a bit, and how she always bit her lip when she was in deep thought. All of these different things he had noticed about her behaviour in every and all situations were committed to Sasuke's memory, and oddly enough he was pleased to remember every one of them.

"Sometimes." she said, tightening her grip on his waist "But then I remember why I wanted to come in the first place."

She looked away, and Sasuke's mind was filled instantly with memories of the night when he left. Sakura's desperate voice pleading with him, telling him how much she loved him, what a happy life they could live together. It never ceased to bother and amaze him that she had given up more than he had.

"You gave up happiness for me." he said, sounding almost confused.

Stopping in front of a door at the end of the hallway, Sakura simply looked at Sasuke and smiled. Eyes clear and bright, looking almost amused, let Sasuke know that even if he had no idea what she was thinking, his previous statement was entirely incorrect. Remembering his family for a short moment, how he was doing all of these things to avenge them, he wondered if maybe that's how she felt about him. He had been unpleasant a lot of the time, to all people, so as she walked him into the dimly lit room which looked a lot like a torture chamber, Sasuke Uchiha felt grateful for the love she clearly had for him, yet completely confused by it.


	7. This Will Hurt

All pleasant thoughts and warm feelings were erased from both their minds as soon as the door was closed behind them, the dark room illuminated slightly, just enough to show the concrete slab meant to be an examination table and the various instruments Sakura was all too familiar with and Sasuke hoped would never find out their use.

Brought to the examination table by Sakura, Sasuke was laid down, his upper body exposed to the cold concrete beneath him, his entire body aching with the pain and aching with the longing for relief, for the moment when the poisonous substance would finally be out of his system and his training could resume. He watched Sakura move about the room, gathering up a large bowl of water, several pieces of cloth, another large empty bowl and a little scalpel.

"I thought med nins could do that by using chakra." said Sasuke eyeing the scalpel, trying to get his mind off what he imagined would happen.

Sakura bit her lip, looking unsure and scared all of a sudden, and Sasuke soon realize that perhaps she had not yet mastered the technique. Before he could make any other comment a sharp pain invaded his head once more, and his body felt extremely heavy, so all that came out from between his parted lips was a loud moan of pain.

A warm hand pushed on his chest, near his heart, and he felt the cold tip of the scalpel on his skin, picking at it slightly. He tried to focus on the pain that would come, which would surely be easier to endure than what he was currently feeling, but Sakura made no move for several minutes, their heavy breathing being the only sounds filling the room.

"This will hurt a lot, Sasuke-kun. You need to stay as quiet as you can. We don't know how anyone would react to knowing I'm doing this to you, possibly against Orochimaru's orders."

She spoke in a soft voice, shaking with nerves and fear, but she looked determined to go through with her plan. Sasuke could only nod and focus on his breathing, trying to keep it even, and brace for what was to come.

The scalpel dug into his skin, and the cut Sakura had made was small yet deep, the bleeding under control due to the justsu she was already performing on him. Right hand on his chest, near the cut, keeping the bleeding at a minimum, her left hand was above the water bowl, forming in a large bubble, her glowing chakra surrounding it. Nodding only slightly, as if to say _here we go_, she pushed the bubble of water and chakra down into his body through the hole she had made, and Sasuke wanted to scream at the top of his lungs, but instead be bit his lip until it was more blood and flesh than skin.

* * *

The most stressful experience of Sakura's life was seeing Sasuke beneath her hands, blood streaming down his chin from biting on his lip so hard, in a pain so agonizing he could barely breathe, all due to something she had to do to him.

But still she focused with all her might, every word she had read about this procedure running through her mind over and over again, imagining her chakra as a sticky web running through Sasuke's veins, attaching itself to every poisonous cell in his body and sucking it into the chakra infused water. Her chakra was like a magnet for poisons when combined with the water, and she could feel the distorted bubble grow heavier and heavier the more she held it inside of Sasuke's chest, near his heart, where she was sure the most damage had been done.

Hands shaking painfully, she did not move, she didn't even dare breathe, until she felt she had gotten most of the poison out. Sasuke's face was a mixture of pain and relief, the aftermath of the procedure leaving him exhausted and sore, but she could see an improvement as soon as she dumped the bubble into the empty bowl. It was a dirty, dark brown.

Placing her hands on his chest once more, she focused her chakra, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, trying to sense if there was any leftover poison in his system. Sasuke's chest was rising up and going back down faster now, easier than before, and when she opened her eyes his gaze was locked on her face, not even blinking, wearing an expression she could not read.

"I think that's all of it, Sasuke-kun. How do you feel?" she asked nervously, slightly intimidated by his intense look.

Stepping back from the examination table, Sakura watched as the young Uchiha stretched and tested all of his senses, wincing in pain occasionally, feeling the effects of the poison still. After a long time of getting adjusted to not hurting constantly, he looked back into her wide eyes and gave a short nod of approval. Sakura could only sigh with relief at the fact that she did not make matters worse. She helped Sasuke, and the thought filled her to the point where it became overwhelming.

Sasuke had managed to stand up all on his own, his legs still a bit shaky but steady enough to hold him. Seeing him better, and so quickly, too, had a strange effect of Sakura. Before she could attempt to control her emotions, all the build up, all the fear and anxiety she had about screwing up, about not being able to protect him or maybe even lose him, her body started shaking furiously, tears streaming endlessly down her cheeks.

Her blurry vision allowed her to only see the outline of Sasuke, but she still saw the way his expression changed and his eyes widened slightly at her reaction. Awkwardly trying to cry in silence, and hopefully stop her tears, she stood there feeling embarrassed and silly, but, when she felt two warm hands on her shoulders, gently pressed against the fabric of her shirt, the world froze.

"I'm glad I brought you with me." Sasuke said, looking away from Sakura, his voice barely audible.

Her instant reaction was to pull him as close to her as she possibly could, shoving her face in the crook of his neck and crying silently, holding him as tightly as her still fragile arms could. The thought of her not being here, left behind back in Konoha, while Sasuke would have had to go through this, was almost impossible to bear. She felt his arms around her, gently holding her close, almost as if to say "thank you" again, although this time the words remained unspoken.


	8. Test Passed

The walk back into their room took longer than usual, even though Sasuke could walk normally now, and was more tense than the very first one. Both of their minds were filled with the same question, what will happen now? Sakura was sure Orochimaru would not take too kindly to her going against whatever plan he had for Sasuke, although she still didn't know the exact purpose of poisoning him, other than Sasuke's own suggestion of having him build resistance over time.

She walked close to Sasuke, their arms touching with every step, and this brief contact was all that was keeping her from running into her room and locking herself inside without any plan, just to get away from the feeling something or someone was going to come out of the dark, know instantly what she'd done, and hurt her. Briefly, she wondered how she had survived for so long in this hideout, how she hadn't gone crazy being so afraid daily.

When safely back into their room, door shut behind them, Sasuke and Sakura both sat on Sasuke's bed, looking at each other, both faces asking the same question. What now? Exhaustion overtook them both, however, and knowing there was, realistically, not much either of them could do, they fell asleep propped uncomfortably against the wall, still facing each other, as if waiting for the other to propose a plan.

* * *

He had to protect her. It was Sasuke's first thought as he opened his eyes when he woke. Energized from the tips of his toes to the very top of his head, finally feeling the effects of the actual chakra enhancing drugs, he knew the first thing he would do, if need be, was going to be fight anyone who dares touch Sakura for healing him. He'd seen Orochimaru before, dealing with disobedient people, or anyone who simply did one thing wrong while he was in a bad mood. The memories made him shudder.

Slowly getting up, making sure not to make too much noise as to not wake his sleeping teammate, he moved her gently until she was laying in a more comfortable position, spread across his bed and breathing peacefully in and out. Then, closing his eyes, he decided to explore his power and start training with basic chakra control exercises, knowing it was all he could do inside his room and knowing he needed to get a grip on his power before leaving to go anywhere.

The after effects of being poisoned were barely there. Sasuke did think it a bit suspicious. After all, the poison, aside from cause him a lot of pain while in his system, did not seem to have done any permanent kind of damage or affect him in any way now that it was gone. Perhaps he had Sakura and her medical skills to thank for that, and no doubt she did a fantastic job extracting the poison and healing him, but could that be all there is to it?

He needed not even focus on the chakra exercises he once found so difficult, managing to control the flow and quantity of it as easily as he inhaled and exhaled. His curse seal felt easier to control, too, the transformation taking a lot less of a toll on his body than it would have prior to the drugs inserted into his system. He had gotten stronger, and so fast he could hardly believe it, but he knew better than to celebrate. He remembered Itachi's power, how years of what felt like proper, good training dissolved into nothingness in front of his brother's strength. Sasuke knew he needed more.

Sasuke's thoughts were soon interrupted by a loud, insistent knock on the wooden door. His blood froze in his veins, knowing full well that no one has come to get either of them personally in weeks, and no one seemed to even care if they stuck to any kind of schedule for a long time now. Quickly, Sasuke turned to Sakura, whose sleepy face was suddenly filled with realization that someone was at the door, which could only mean their little medical procedure had been discovered. She stood up slowly, looking pale but determined, and Sasuke stepped over in front of her before opening the door to see who was knocking.

* * *

"C-could you repeat that, Kabuto-san?" Sakura asked bewildered, her voice filled with all kinds of mixed emotions ranging from relief to confusion.

The man looked down at both herself and Sasuke, and pushing his glasses up his nose, and with a smug look on his face repeated his previous statement.

"Orochimaru-sama would like you, Sakura, to assist us with a more important experiment, unlike the trivial projects you have been working on so far." his voice was calm and even.

It was one of the rare times when both Sasuke and Sakura's faces were equally expressive and matched perfectly. Both having expected nothing less than threats of an execution, it was an understatement to say that Sakura herself was getting the equivalent of a promotion within Orochimaru's ranks for breaking his rules. Perhaps it was some sort of ploy, to separate her from Sasuke, keep him from intervening in her upcoming death or punishment? Although, Sakura thought, that did not seem like Orochimaru's style.

"If you want me to atone for going against Orochimaru's objectives you can skip the charade." she said, her voice sounding a lot calmer than she would have expected.

Kabuto actually laughed, a clear sound that caught him by surprise, too. Amusement clear on his face, he shook his head, still smiling widely. There was a strange fondness on his expression whenever he eyed Sakura, somewhat similar to what she'd noticed on Kakashi sensei's face whenever he watched her and the rest of the team train and actually do well together. As if they had a teacher-student bond.

Next to her, Sasuke seemed to have put the pieces together and figured out what it was that amused Kabuto so much. He turned to face Sakura and even though she could see a small amount of bitterness in his eyes, he mainly looked at her and tried to wordlessly reassure her that it would be alright. She looked back at Kabuto and raised her eyebrows, waiting for an explanation. It was Sasuke, however, who first spoke.

"It was a test, Sakura. Orochimaru was testing you."

Confused, Sakura thought back to when her and Sasuke first arrived and were greeted by Orochimaru. He mentioned how he doesn't take in strays, how she would have to earn her keep. Fury suddenly filled her, along with realization. It was a test to see if her talent deserved Kabuto's attention, to see if she was worth keeping and using, and Sasuke was the guinea pig. The urge to throw a chakra infused punch was overwhelming, but instead she calmly said:

"Take me to Orochimaru, then." and both Sasuke and Kabuto eyed her cautiously, rage obvious in her voice.

Kabuto cleared his throat and turned around to lead the way. Sakura soon paced herself to walk behind him and Sasuke was right at her side, despite Kabuto telling him Orochimaru had business with Sakura, and Sakura alone. She couldn't imagine how he felt. Perhaps Sasuke even resented her a little, being used in such a way to test her, with complete disregard for his well being. More importantly, this test had cost Sasuke hundreds of hours he could have spent training. Knowing what that meant to Sasuke, and how he must be feeling, Sakura found it a little harder to breathe.

All three of them walked in silence, descending to the lower levels of the underground base where constant moans of pain and sounds of chains being pulled filled the empty corridors. It almost felt as if Sakura, Sasuke, Orochimaru and Kabuto were the only people inhabiting the base, seeing as they hardly saw anyone else, and if they did it was merely an accident that they had let themselves be seen. Stopping in front of a large, iron door, Kabuto turned around to face Sasuke and sternly said:

"This is as far as you can go. I am sorry, Sasuke, but Orochimaru wants to speak to Sakura alone."

Sasuke's normally impartial expression harshened visibly, and fearing he might argue back, Sakura, swallowing hard before reminding him of something that was partly her fault, took his arm and said to him:

"You haven't managed to train properly in so long, Sasuke-kun. I'm sure a boring, long talk isn't worth losing any more time, eh?"

She smiled at him sweetly, the strain of her concerns making it all too obvious it was forced and uncomfortable. Yet, it worked, and sighing and relaxing his tensed shoulders, he simply nodded and started walking away.

"Come find me when you're done." he said over his shoulder before Kabuto opened the iron door, allowing Sakura to step in.

More concerned with what Sasuke was feeling about this whole situation than the fact that she was entering a room on the level she knew no one had access to, in order to face the most dangerous man she knew of, Sakura's mind was not immediately registering the horrific machinery laid out in front of her. A man, barely breathing, was connected to all kinds of tubes and metal bars, his white hair messy around his pale face. Orochimaru looked upon him with an unreadable expression, before turning to Sakura and, in his melodic voice, asking her to come closer.


	9. You're In Me

Brought back to the present by Orochimaru's overwhelmingly intimidating presence, Sakura reminded herself she needed some answers. While scared to death and certainly not eager to anger the dangerous missing nin, she always hated that small part of herself that told her to hide, to play it safe, to let the stronger ones take care of what she could not handle. She wanted to remain with her head held high, eyes looking right back at the man who'd used Sasuke, a very precious asset to him, and a very precious person to her, as a guinea pig.

"I didn't quite believe it, at first" he started saying, an amused look, combined with odd, terrifying fondness spreading across his face "that you would be of any use to me. A little naive girl chasing Sasuke, not knowing what you stupidly managed to get yourself into"

His chuckle made goose bumps appear all over Sakura's skin.

"But, you see, I had Kabuto teach you only the very basics on purpose. I need not people who absorb information from books, but resourceful, skilled, talented people who can get things done on their own. I'm sort of a collector of talent, and you have added yourself on the list."

The beeping from the electronics surrounding them and the man barely breathing on the table distracted Sakura slightly, making her wonder what he'd have her do now that he considered her to be worth "collecting". She decided she wouldn't do anything, anything at all until she confronted him about her test.

"How... how could you do that to Sasuke-kun?" her voice sounded small, not as strong as she would have hoped. "You spent so much time and effort to get him, and I know what you plan to do with him, so why?"

"Have you seen him, Sakura? I have not, but I can guarantee he is practically glowing with power and energy. The poison was meant to incapacitate for as long as it is in the system, and no more than that."

No permanent damage to Sasuke, then. Even so, the urge to throttle Orochimaru for making him suffer for so long did not go away. On the contrary, it got only stronger. There was no longer anything left to assure her they, or at least Sasuke, would be safe here, not from everything, at least. Orochimaru was ruthless, and Kabuto blindly obeyed him. It was, however, not a good idea to not take advantage of the opportunity presented to her. No matter how frustrating it was, she had to swallow her anger, all of her feelings, and seize the opportunity to learn more, to become truly strong.

"Why have you summoned me here, then?" she asked, trying to sound bored.

Both men turned towards the one lying down, the man who looked like he was holding onto life by a very thin thread, ready to pass on any minute. He had no shirt on, and on his skin Sakura observed various scars of different sizes, all looking like he had been pierced multiple times... hundreds of times. The red markings above his eyes reminded her briefly of some history book she might have flipped through long ago, but they did not ring a bell.

"His name is Kimimaro." said Kabuto, checking the man's vitals. "The last of a powerful clan, the Kaguya clan. He inherited a very special ability that with his death would be lost for good."

It didn't make much sense to Sakura, why they would show this to her after deeming she deserved to be among Orochimaru's prized possessions. She's performed one single complicated procedure under high stress, and surely, she thought, it was mostly luck that allowed her to not kill Sasuke right there on the table. It would be years before she could even begin to think of a way to help.

"I don't understand. What can I do for him? I'm still learning the basics."

"And you will learn much more, with Kabuto, in here. Now that I know you posses the talent, I want you to acquire the skill. You will join Kabuto in all experiments, you will learn from him and you will grow. This is merely the main project, should I call it. This is what you will be dealing with from now on."

So, clearly, this was simply going to be her new training ground. Experimenting on a living man, even though he didn't look like it, and doing god knows what else was required of her to continue her training. Sakura considered for a moment what accepting this will mean, and then remembered late nights spent with Kabuto, in which they discussed medicine, and how the human body worked, how the chakra system was perfectly in sync with all the other organs, how the same man who had those conversations with her and rarely lost his patience also spent hours of his time using humans as test subjects. She remembered not all things are black and white, and this was the biggest grey area she would be stepping into, perhaps allowing herself to be painted in it from head to toe.

* * *

Chidori came as naturally to him now as everything else. It almost seemed too simple, doing all the old things he used to, all the training routines which used to exhaust him to the point of not being able to walk on his own. It had all become so boring, training on his own, using his old moves, that he was done within the first thirty minutes. He decided to keep going though, do it all over and over again, until Sakura showed up with a proper explanation.

He couldn't deny the irritation he felt whenever he thought of the agonizing, endless pain he was put through. He did not, however, feel any sort of animosity towards Sakura, who looked more heartbroken than he did upon finding out the truth. The memory brought a smile to his face, as most Sakura related memories did, reminding him that there was someone who cared for him so much, someone who pushed and pushed to an annoying extent for him to take care of himself and eat and sleep and not simply train and become a tool by which he could achieve revenge. He had to be grateful, and he was, every time he realized that no matter how annoying, it made him feel as warm as the soup she practically force fed him whenever he wanted to go straight to sleep or to train.

He felt her the second she stepped outside, even though he had his back to the entrance. Her chakra was so unique, so familiar, he needn't concentrate at all to sense her coming closer to him. He was not a sensor, but now, it seemed like even the things he used to be terrible at were at the very least decent.

"Sasuke-kun, how are you feeling?" was the first thing she said to him in a shaky voice.

He'd just finished off another dummy using a katana, which he threw to the ground and left behind as he approached his pink haired teammate. She looked flushed, as if she ran all the way over to the door then halted, and he strongly suspected that's exactly what she had done. Her green eyes avoided his face very obviously, and she was fidgeting with the edges of her dress.

"Energized." he said, and was surprised to find it true, even though he'd spent hours training with almost no breaks.

Now standing inches away from her, Sasuke was taken aback by how utterly exhausted she looked. Her face was pale, her body was shaking and she had deep dark circles under her normally bright eyes. He remembered that her chakra reserves must still be fairly low, after performing the medical ninjutsu on him for hours after which she jumped straight into a complicated procedure. She'd only gotten a few short hours of sleep. Ruffling her pink hair, which caused her to look straight at him for the first time since this morning, he continued.

"Unlike you. Let's go. I'm done with training for now."

Sasuke grabbed her hand and led her into the hideout, away from sunlight and back into the cold, torch lit corridors they had become all too familiar with. He could feel her fingers squeezing his and remembered times when she would have begged for some time with him, and he would deny it to her without a second thought.

"When did you become so affectionate?" she asked, jokingly, the edge almost gone from her voice.

At least she understood the message. He wasn't mad at her, but he did have to ponder her question seriously. When had he become so at ease with being around Sakura, touching her casually, speaking to her as if he was having a conversation with himself? He did not consider his feelings for the pinkette, and never thought he had to. Sakura was Sakura, she was who woke up in the same dark room as him, sometimes right next to him. She was who bossed him around when he was too hard on himself with his training, who encouraged him when he failed, who followed him, for all they knew back then, straight into death. Sakura and whatever it was that he felt for her -affection, maybe- was as natural to him as his Sharingan. That's all he thought in the span of one second as he considered her question.

"Hn." was all that he managed to say.

* * *

They had stopped to eat, too, before going back to their room. Sasuke was clearly, to Sakura's delight, making an effort to show her he was not mad. The ease it brought Sakura, the comfort to know she still had him while in this mess, was overwhelming. While they were eating, she filled him in on what Orochimaru and Kabuto had said, how she'd be spending her time from now on, and more importantly, how there was another potential vessel for Orochimaru only a few levels below them. A vessel which, if ever healed, could sustain an eye transplant and become the strongest shinobi Sakura could imagine.

The latter was only speculation, of course, but neither her nor Sasuke were strangers to Orochimaru's ambitions, so working on healing Kimimaro would feel, to Sakura, like disarming a bomb with a timer which sped up the closer she got to getting it right.

They had a little over two years left, though, before Orochimaru could use his jutsu again and take either Sasuke or Kimimaro as a vessel, so at least that eased her anxiety slightly, although the fear would always be there.

Well fed and back into the relative comfort of their room, Sakura fell on her bed and felt as if she never wanted to move again, knowing full well that was not possible. Watching Sasuke through half closed eyes, she had the sudden urge to take advantage of his light mood, the one he displayed specifically to put her at ease. It was silly, she knew, still caring so much about things far less important than their safety, his goal, and her own purpose of getting stronger for both their sakes. She still wanted that little something more that made living here, with Sasuke, even more worth it.

"Can I ask you something?" she started, a little afraid of the answer she might hear to her yet unspoken question.

Sasuke walked over to her bed and sat down on the edge, looking at her curiously, waiting, instead of replying, knowing she would ask anyway.

"Am I really just a convenience? Did you bring me here, truly, just because it was more convenient than for me to report you, and did you agree to keep me here because I can be helpful?" she asked, not daring to look straight at him and see in his expression that the words rang true.

The silence weighed a lot more than Sakura thought she could bear, and waiting for his reply was pure torture, even more than being stuck in the same room as an unpredictable Orochimaru. He did, however, after a long time, speak in a soft voice.

"I think I didn't really want to leave home behind, and you, Naruto, Kakashi... you became home. As for keeping you here? It makes it almost sound like you're an accessory I brought along. You're not something I keep around, Sakura. You're somehow _in _me."

Tears were streaming down Sakura's cheeks before he had finished speaking. It felt unreal, to have Sasuke say those words to her, but here he was, hands clasped tightly in his lap, looking down as if the words were so heavy, meant so much, he couldn't stand up straight. She crawled towards him, fighting off her tiredness, and wrapped her arms around his neck so tightly she feared she might strangle him. But no, he simply placed his palms on her arms, squeezing reassuringly, or maybe just to have something to hold.

"Sleep now, Sakura," he said, giving her arms one last squeeze.

She pulled him with her, afraid to let go, and he indulged her whims and laid beside her, turning around to face her, grabbing hold of her hand and not letting go, not even when both of them were asleep.


	10. Somewhere Along The Way

Almost two years had passed. During the first few months, rescue missions and search parties were issued constantly, and towards the end of the first year it was only due to Naruto's insistent nature that Tsunade still bothered to send out one or two pairs of shinobi out of the village, even though it was all hopeless.

Naruto walked through the dimly lit streets of Konoha, wandering around for hours, not really wanting to go home. The moon was the only thing providing some light in the more secluded area of the village he was now walking through. The quiet night reminded him of when Sakura came to him with her concerns, perhaps the only time she'd seriously trusted in him, and how he'd failed to listen. And now she was gone. And so was Sasuke. The only family he had known had fallen apart, and he was damned if he would allow things to stay that way, but he also didn't know what to do.

He spent the better part of the year training with the perverted Sannin, Jiraya, travelling around, or training on the outskirts of the village. He was meant to leave tomorrow with him, for a final year of intense training. If he did know anything about his current situation, it was that he needed to become strong enough to bring them back. They were alive. They were well and they would listen. He had to believe that. And even if he didn't, the look on Kakashi sensei's face when he asked him to speak with Tsunade, or the haunted expressions of Sakura's parents trying to go about their daily lives in the village, were enough to keep his determination alive.

* * *

The screams were annoyingly loud. Sakura was looking down at a large man, a lot taller than six feet, heavier than a slab of concrete, watching how he convulsed and shook. Kabuto, beside her, wrote down notes regarding the man's reactions. They had injected him with a combination of cells taken from Kimimaro's body and what was supposed to be an antidote to the condition which made the sick man's body so weak. If a man as large and strong in constitution as this one reacted in such a way, Kimimaro would certainly die on the spot. Yet another failure.

"Damnit." Kabuto whispered angrily scribbling down the last of the notes.

His calm was impressive to Sakura, considering how much was hanging onto these experiments. They needed to find a cure within this next year, or Orochimaru would be unable to take his prized talent as a vessel And surely, he'd be happy to have Sasuke instead. Sakura clenched her fists and concentrated a small amount of chakra in her right hand then smashed it through the yelling man's chest, silencing him for good.

"Another failure." she simply stated, wiping her bloody hand on her dress.

They'd been doing these sort of things for so long she could hardly remember how it started. Kabtuo and her in a dark room, always with new people to experiment on, extracting cells or implanting them, taking samples or testing out new drugs. She still wondered, sometimes, how she'd stopped sobbing and vomiting as soon as the deeds were done. But she had. It was these people or Sasuke. It was, for her, an easier choice the closer they got to the deadline.

* * *

A moderately sized snake was slithering around Sasuke, waiting to receive his orders. It was an ugly thing, looking hatefully with its yellow eyes. It was the sixth summoning of the day and even with his improved chakra control and reserves, he was starting to feel the exhaustion.

"A year ago you would have summoned a dead snake skin. Stop looking so disappointed." said Orochimaru, chuckling softly, a short distance away from Sasuke's panting form.

He couldn't help but grunt. He could explain an infinite amount of times that none of this was fast enough, yet he still would get scolded for being displeased. He briefly wondered how far along he would have been now had Orochimaru not halted his progress a year ago. It was necessary to remind himself how ruthless the missing nin was.

However, what was undeniable was his growth. Fast enough or not, Sasuke could not ignore that whatever was done to him previous to the little test all that time ago, it changed him in unnatural ways. Every time he moved he felt power surging through his veins, his muscles firm and strong, his chakra spiking all on its own sometimes due to the massive amount. He smiled to himself, imagining the moment when he'd face his brother with his newly acquired powers, some of which he's yet to learn. He could definitely do this.

"Do the third set of exercises again, then you're free. I need to check on Kabuto today."

Sasuke didn't comment on how frequent these check ups had become. The man was getting impatient and it was showing. He simply started concentrating his chakra, practicing his jutsu and wielding his katana, focusing only on his goal.

* * *

They reached the door at the same time. Sakura was yawning widely, waving to Sasuke halfway down the hallway, and he nodded to her, holding the door open and waiting for her to walk inside.

A few months ago they'd managed to convince Orochimaru to change their room location, somewhere closer to the surface, so they could have a tiny opening to the outside world and have some natural sunlight. It was now dusk, the sun going down at a steady pace, stealing away the light they'd missed out on.

The room was larger too, and much more different than the last one. The two beds they'd pressed together in the middle. On the right side were Sakura's things. Her desk with so many medical books and notes Sasuke had to wonder how she kept track of all of them. On the left side were Sasuke's own things, his training equipment, some books on chakra control borrowed from Sakura and some scrolls.

It was a strange thing for both of them, but this was home now. And the routine they'd fallen into, living together, was no longer haunted by any unpleasantness.

"Did you make any progress today?" asked Sasuke as he was organizing some of his own belongings.

"Hardly. We have to break down the very molecular structure so we can figure out what to use for each element and find an antidote. The only thing we managed was to bring yet another person to a state where we'd have to kill them." she replied with a long sigh.

Out of the two of them, Sakura had the more daunting, exhausting task. She was tired in a way Sasuke knew no amount of sleep could fix. She'd seen people die daily, she had to kill many of them herself to put them out of their misery. Sasuke didn't know much about doctors in general, but he knew Sakura was still, underneath it all, the classic kind that wanted to heal and cure, not experiment and murder. He knew despite her calm demeanour and her changed personality that it still bothered her.

He also knew why she kept doing it. It dug a hole in his stomach, one which he didn't think he could ever fill.

"You can always stop, Sakura." he said to her, hoping she would but knowing it was foolish to ask.

She smiled at him. They'd had this discussion a hundred times, always going back and forth between each other, trying to convince the other person they could stop and rest or maybe even give up. They'd never do it though. Both of them were too stubborn and determined.

Walking towards him until she was just inches away, she wrapped her arms around him, and his reaction was instantaneous. He was holding her tightly, her long pink locks tickling his skin as his hands were running up and down her back. He could feel her silently laugh beneath his touch and he pushed her away slightly, looking at her with a confused expression.

"When did you get this tall?" she asked, looking up at him.

The difference wasn't all that impressive, yet he realized she was in fact forced to look up talking to him, even when they weren't this close together. For some unexplainable reason, this fact made him smile.

"Just wait. In a few years you'll need a ladder to get to me." he teased, absent mindedly flicking her forehead and moving closer towards the bed to sit down.

Her speed was not quite up there with his, but it was still impressive. He felt her pushing him down on the bed, turning him over mid air so that he would land on his back, facing towards her. He could have stopped her, of course, but he could see no reason in the world why he should.

"Or, I could just do this." she whispered, her face red despite her bold attitude.

Looking up at her bright, green eyes, feeling her breath warm on his face and seeing how much even the smallest touch still affected her, Sasuke couldn't help but still feel the same warmth he always had. He was the source of something good and strong in her life. Somewhere along his complicated path, he'd learned to appreciate that.

He kissed her. He did it because she was close, and warm, and her lips were slightly parted as she was panting from the internal reaction she was having to him. Her hands grabbed his neck, nails digging slightly into his skin as she pas pulling him closer and closer. Their chests were moving together rapidly, breathing erratic all due to this simple, yet complicated, touch of their lips. She tasted so much like home he wondered if one of these days, when they kissed, he'd simply refuse to stop and live off this good feeling for as long as he could.


	11. Day Off

**AN: **I give anyone who is following this story permission, in writing, to lynch me. As of right now, my plan is to post one chapter per week. I am quite excited to finally finish this story and have already written ahead of schedule so that, even if I end up procrastinating or getting busy, I can still post for you guys. I honestly hope whomever has the patience to read this fic of mine enjoys it.

* * *

It was not the first time Haruno Sakura had woken up to the sleeping face of her childhood crush. Each morning, and she did get to do it often, as she woke before him every time, it took her some time to ponder over that fact. He was sleeping on his stomach, his head laying away from the pillow, facing her. The act did not even stem from her romantic feelings, not really. It just felt good to watch him sleeping, witnessing herself that he was safe and sound. Away from everything waiting for them outside this room. Her whole body shook at the thought that they had a little less than a year left to try and cure Kimimaro. Test subject after test subject either died of their own accord or had to be put out of their misery, and there seemed to be no end in sight to the hopeless routine. Orochimaru himself was growing impatient, visiting the lab almost daily, pretending to be causal about his inquiries. He fooled no one.

With his eyes closed, you could mistake the sleeping Uchiha for any ordinary teenage boy. Sakura's hand hovered above his closed eyelids, thinking about the eyes that made him so valuable. In her most selfish moments, when she secretly disregarded the pride Sasuke had always felt about his clan – his family – and how much they had meant to him, all she could think about was how nice it would have been if he hadn't awakened the Sharingan at all. Be a failure to his clan, but a safe one. Not a rarity. Not something to be hunted. Or, as Orochimaru intends to do, not something to be possessed by those who are power hungry. Only one thought kept forming in Sakura's mind. One solution to their upcoming problem, should Kimimaro become useless to the missing nin. And that was that Sasuke and herself had to get as far away from Orochimaru as possible.

The reaction she'd get from Sasuke, at the suggestion of cutting his training short, was the less desirable part of her plan. Just as she'd began frowning to herself at the thought, Sasuke stirred, announcing to her that he was awake.

"That's troubling,' he said vaguely.

"What is?" she asked surprised.

Propping himself on one elbow, now at eye level with Sakura, he explained:

"The staring at me while I sleep and frowning like something is wrong."

Looking away, pretending to examine a bit of parchment hanging off of his bedside table, she considered sharing her concerns with him. Though she thought better of it. There was still time left, and it would be foolish to throw in the idea without an actual plan.

"I'm just dreading today, is all. Kabuto-san always starts the mornings being positive about trying out new things. And then we lie to each other about the minuscule progress we've made, pretending it's a milestone."

She sighed deeply, truly hating the idea of spending another day bent over so called antidotes and medical books and concoctions that would do nothing but cripple the subjects. The word "people" threatened to replace the formal term, but she brushed it off quickly. There was no more use in suffering over her actions. What she did had to be done. Whether it was fair to set the value of Sasuke's life above theirs was another matter, and it was not Sakura's role to judge. Her only role was to do her best.

"Do you need to be there every day?" Sasuke inquired.

"It's never occurred to me to ask for a day off," Sakura admitted.

"Come train with me, take your mind off things. Staying cooped up in a lab won't do you much good as a shinobi," he said matter-of-factly.

Staying cooped up was not all she had been doing. Ever since Kabuto had showed her how to control her chakra, she'd been sneaking off with every opportunity to try and practice enhancing her strength. It was useful, not needing tools or help for harder tasks. Being able to move the corpses when Orochimaru's minions were put to better use. Though she had never told Sasuke until now. She was still far from being the best fighter, and so the admission somehow shamed her. Like she should say it out loud only when she had something to actually show for the efforts. Although, the thought of training with Sasuke made her feel lighter already.

"Won't Orochimaru complain? I hardly want him on my bad side, even for minor offences."

"I doubt it. He wanders off during my training more than he actually supervises anything. "

Small, but existent. It was a complaint about Orochimaru's performance as a mentor. A sign from Sasuke himself that he was not learning as much as he wanted to. Sakura clung to the idea with all that she had.

As Sakura headed down towards the lab, to give Kabuto the news she would be skipping the day, it was exactly him whom she had run into. He was wearing his travelling cloak, accompanied by an irritated expression. Stopping in his tracks to explain to Sakura that he had to leave with Orochimaru, quite urgently, he had pretty much given her the day off she was going to ask for. There was no explanation as to why they had to leave, but she knew it was important. Orochimaru hardly allowed Kabuto to do anything but work on healing Kimimaro. She made a mental note to try and find out when they got back.

* * *

Staring at the front entrance, after having been told he'd have to train on his own, Sasuke saw not Sakura coming out, but Kabuto, who was rushing over into the forest. He had, of course, been given no explanation what so ever, and was only told that training would resume as usual as soon as possible. She followed soon after, focusing her attention on a pair of black gloves he'd never seen her wearing before. As she finished adjusting them on her hands, she looked up and gave him a shy smile. Her demeanour confused him slightly. The body language displayed spoke of reluctance, and insecurity. Where was this coming from?

"Are you ready?" he asked, hoping he'd get an answer to his mental question.

"I'm not..." she trailed off, looking away, "I don't know if I can keep up with you, Sasuke-kun. You've done a lot more training than I have so..."

It had been such a long time since they'd last had a training session together that he'd forgotten. Sakura had always underestimated herself. It was apparent, from their first days as a team, that she wanted to improve, though somehow she allowed herself to fall behind and play it safe. Sasuke knew it was because she didn't trust herself, not after the mental comparisons she made when it came to himself and Naruto.

"Training is serious to me, Sakura," he said in a flat voice, though continued with a soft smile, "but we're doing this today because it's also exhilarating."

He could only hope she understood he wasn't going to judge her if she was bad, or out of practice. Time would make her stronger, and he knew she had the capability for it already. He received a timid smile as a response to his statement, and Sakura nodded to signify she was ready to begin. Taking a few steps back, Sasuke waited for her to make the first move, allowing her to decide the pace of the spar, and how it was going to progress.

Behind him. He could sense her before she even got there, his Sharingan easily keeping track of her fast movements before she was making them herself. He responded with turning quickly towards her and raising his katana to block the attack. What he didn't expect was the rattling of the ground, the breaking apart of the earth as he stumbled backwards, trying to stay on his feet. He'd gotten a glimpse of the chakra concentrated in her right foot right before she stomped, but the strength was unbelievable.

The shock apparent on his face must have given her a boost of confidence, because even though she was truly out of practice, she was persistent enough to not give Sasuke much time to think about his retaliation. Brute force was all she was displaying. Quite a brilliant skill to have, thought Sasuke, because no one would expect it from someone as small and gentle as Sakura. Every time he dodged a punch, or a kick, he could feel the waves of power radiating off of her. There couldn't have been many people able to survive such a hit, if taken by surprise.

Though it was merely a friendly battle, with no real intent to damage one another, Sasuke could see Sakura's determination to give it her all. Soon enough she was out of breath. Unsure as to how far she was willing to push herself, Sasuke decided to end the battle immediately, knowing she wouldn't ask to stop if it got too much for her. If anything, they could do this more often. A stretch of the muscles, the increase of the heartbeat, Sasuke couldn't deny how much he loved simple exercise like this.

Catching her wrists in his hands, kicking her feet from under her, he allowed himself to fall back, her weight landing on top of him. They both laid there, trying to catch their breath for a while, not saying anything. Her head buried in his chest, wrists still captive in his hold, she let out a muffled laugh. Sasuke looked down at the long, pink hair spread wildly across his chest and made a sound of confusion.

"That was actually really fun," she said, looking up at him with a smile on her face.

Letting go of her wrists, Sasuke got up into a sitting position, Sakura now kneeling in between his legs, taking off the black gloves that now looked like they had a few holes in them.

"When did you learn that?" Sasuke asked, curious about her strength.

"Kabuto-san taught me how to channel my chakra, how to use it not only to heal but also as sharp, raw power. Like the chakra scalpel, for example."Sakura pointed two fingers at the ground, and used her glowing chakra to make a dent in it. "I thought that I could experiment with it, find different ways to use the raw power. Channel it into different parts of my body and strengthen them."

It was a very simple tactic, in theory. Since chakra itself was behind the very power of most shinobi, this was using it in its basic form. Though Sasuke knew the technique must be incredibly difficult to master. He remembered how long it took him and Naruto to climb up that damn tree back on their first dangerous mission. He couldn't help but smile at the memory. He dismissed it quickly. He couldn't afford to miss the village.

Glancing over at Sakura, Sasuke noticed a faint blush on her cheeks, though she was trying to hide it behind her hair. Without even realizing, he reached out his hand to brush away the pink strands, to see her face more clearly. The result was a deeper colour of red spreading all over her skin.

"This is silly," she said, looking away from him.

Sasuke remembered a time when her reactions to him used to be annoying. He couldn't even form the thought now.

"What is it, Sakura?"

"For a second there, you almost looked… proud." She bit her lip nervously as she said it.

The concept of pride in others seemed a little useless to Sasuke. Sure, he could be impressed by other people's abilities, and it'd only give him more reason to train hard, but being proud of someone else? Though at the same time, he realized she wasn't wrong. Sakura was someone who had sacrificed a lot to follow him, that he was grateful for. And she was someone who was precious to him. That in itself brought a plethora of feelings that were hard to understand yet warmed him to the bones. But, to his shame, this was one of the first times he saw Sakura as a shinobi with her own path she was following. It was so connected to his own, at this point, it was easy to forget, but deep down inside, all she did stemmed from her own ambitions. So, a combination of all that did in fact warrant Sasuke's pride. He just had to accept she would be the exception to many of the things he believed in.

"That strength of yours is impressive," Sasuke said smirking, "though you still need to be fast enough to catch me."

It took him by surprise, though it shouldn't have. Before he knew it, he was laying on his back once again, her hands pinning him down, holding his wrists in a similar way to how he'd caught her. There was no chance of managing to get up without really hurting her. That's how strong the chakra pulsing through her hands was. Pink hair fell gently on the side of his face, ticking his skin, and her face was close enough for him to notice the tiniest of scars right below her lower lip. A shinobi's body was supposed to be a machine following logic and sound tactics. Sasuke's body, in that moment, was anything but. Sakura herself must have suddenly become aware of their predicament, the legs that were straddling Sasuke now tensing up against him, and the previous cockiness replaced by a new wave of embarrassment.

Shooting up quickly, though not removing herself entirely, Sasuke was now able to once again raise to a sitting position, and follow his muddled thoughts which, annoyingly enough, kept telling him to put his arms around her, because if she got up, that would be quite inconvenient And so he did. Wrapping his arms around her, pulling her a little closer, he could feel her heart beating wildly against his chest. No doubt she could feel his too.

"Sasuke-kun…" it was hardly a whisper, her breath warming Sasuke's lips.

Somehow, hearing his name uttered by her voice made him think the only response was to kiss her. Which he did. For so long that by the end of it, he wasn't sure he still had lips on his face, or a body to use to get back up on his feet.


	12. Missing Home

**AN: **Just a quick thank you for those of you who warmly welcomed me back. Also, I'd like to mention that my tumblr URL is laevix, in case there are questions about the story anyone wants to ask.

* * *

Though the hidden base was normally very quiet, a sense of serenity spread over Sasuke and Sakura, as they walked around the training grounds after their little spar. Orochimaru being somewhere other than in their vicinity took a heavy weight off their shoulders, albeit temporarily. The quiet, the beauty of the forest, each other's company. They could almost pretend this was a trip. A mission like any of the ones they had been on before, that took more than a day.

Sakura could not help but occasionally touch her lips, also using it as an excuse to hide her giddy smile. Kissing Sasuke was not exactly new. Sometimes it happened, completely spontaneously, when it felt like not physically touching each other was somehow unnatural. But every time, it felt the same. It was awkward, sure. Bumping their noses against each other. Accidentally biting too hard on each other's lips. Though nothing like Sakura had ever imagined, their shared moments of intimacy were even better. Sasuke himself was walking beside her, deep in thought, and she worried that he was regretting the kiss, seeing as unlike her, he was not radiating with happiness.

"What is it, Sasuke-kun?"

Looking over at her, almost as if he had been in a trance that was now broken, he hesitated a moment before he spoke.

"I was actually thinking of the village."

The admission had her stop in her tracks. It was a topic she avoided thinking about for the longest time, because she knew that if she allowed herself to, she would be flooded by grief. One of her earliest memories flashed in her mind, of her father encouraging her from behind to take her first reluctant steps, and her mother waiting a short distance away, arms spread wide, ready to catch her should she fall. Then, she thought of Naruto, and his need to fill in every silence with obnoxious talking, or rambling about how he would become the best Hokage ever. How it was never boring even when waiting for Kakashi-sensei to show up late with a new excuse.

Sasuke looked sad as well. Though unlike hers, his memories of the village were undoubtedly tainted by tragedy, she knew he still had a fondness for the place. She realized, in time, what Team 7 had come to mean to him.

"I try not to," she admitted.

He sighed, and sat himself down below a tree filled with cuts and marks, no doubt from his katana. Following his example, she propped herself near him, looking up at the clear sky, and the leaves dancing in the wind.

"I don't want to say that I miss it," he said after a while.

"But you do," Sakura noted.

Glancing at him, she saw him nod ever so slightly. And as painful as it was, she had to let the feeling of missing home flood her as well. It was incredible how tight of a hold the brain could have over things too painful to handle. She'd read about it in her medical books, the ones that dealt with mental health as well as the physical. But once you let go. Once the pain is allowed to flow freely, it's supposed to start a healing process. She supposed it was time for that, after two years of pushing it away. Though a sudden thought occurred to her, one that made her feel so guilty her stomach clenched painfully.

"Sasuke-kun, we need to do something."

He was surprised by the urgency in her voice. He shifted his body so that he was looking directly at her and waited for her to explain.

"I know… I know it's unwise to send messages. Especially if we get tracked down, but we can't not let them know we're still alive and okay, can we? Naruto and Kakashi-sensei, my parents..." she trailed off, "We can't go back, Sasuke-kun, I know it. But it's so unfair, not letting them know we're okay,"

All she could picture in that moment were the worried, worn out faces of those who cared about her. Logically, it was a stupid idea. The message could be intercepted, or at the very least bring more pain than comfort. But she felt like they had to.

It took Sasuke a while to ponder the idea. She feared he would say no. She feared he would be strong enough to overcome the urge, but she saw his face soften. Sasuke Uchiha was never a talker, even when he felt comfortable enough with her to talk. But, the comfort did bring another form of understanding. His face, unguarded, let her know that he felt very much the same. As bad of an idea as it was, they had to do it. They just had to find a way to make sure they wouldn't be found out by Orochimaru, or traced back via the messenger by Konoha.

* * *

Naruto Uzumaki was completely and utterly exhausted. So much so that he had to use the last bit of his remaining chakra to summon a shadow clone to help him move onto the grass and lay down under the shade of some trees. That Perverted Sannin ran away somewhere, already, under the pretext of having to gather information. No doubt about the best ways to spy on women. And they weren't that far away from the village yet. He took a deep breath, then exhaled for a long time, closing his eyes. Sometimes, during short breaks like this one, he indulged himself in thinking about Sasuke and Sakura. Imagining where they were, and how they were coming back to Konoha of their own accord. It angered him, that he had to search for and drag them back by force, but he knew it was stupid, this absence of theirs.

"That idiot Sasuke… all his fault," Naruto mumbled.

It was almost night fall, and so the source of the movement in the taller grass was harder to identify. Naruto squinted his eyes and noticed only the slight shine on the scaly skin, slithering closer to him. Right as he was about to panic and throw a kunai at it, he noticed the two small parchments folded up and tired to the creature. What a weird way to transport messages, thought Naruto. Then, the snake stopped right in front of him.

"Ssstupid blond idiot," it hissed at him.

"What the hell did you call me?" yelled Naruto, angered.

"Messsages. Deliver to ssstupid blond idiot."

That was definitely not much of an explanation, but Naruto's eyes widened at the thought of exactly who would send him a message, as well as call him a stupid blond idiot. He snatched the parchments away, not paying any mind to the snake who, as soon as his job was done, poofed away out of existence.

The first parchment he unrolled started with his name. His heart sank and started beating faster at the same time.

_Naruto,_

_I know you know who this message is from. I'm sorry we can't tell you where we are. That night, the one I tried to warn you, I don't want you to beat yourself up over not believing me. I'm glad everything turned out this way, though we do miss you. He's looking over my shoulder as I write this, and he's frowning, trying to deny it, but I'm sure he agrees with me. We're safe. I don't know what will happen when we're done with everything, but, Naruto, I don't want you to worry. _

_PS. The other one is for my family. Please give it to them and help them understand. _

Hands shaking so badly he could not hold the letter anymore, he let it fall down beside him as he cried the happiest tears he'd ever cried. He knew it, that they were okay. The family he had come to know, he couldn't help but feel like they'd abandoned him. But this was Sakura. She was telling him they missed him. It was two damned years late, the letter, and he sure as hell would have needed it all the other times when he almost gave into thinking they were dead, or worse. But he welcomed it more than he had anything else in his life so far. He clutched the letter in his hand, laughing out loud with relief, and stood up to walk back towards the village and deliver the message to Sakura's parents. After which he'd come right back, and train even harder, so that he could find them.

* * *

As soon as the snake started moving away from them, self-doubt filled Sasuke's mind. He knew his summons couldn't be traced, given that they disappeared into thin air, leaving nothing to trace. No, his doubts came from another place entirely. He wondered how smart it was, to go down this route. Sending messages to Konoha, to that idiot, was the opposite of severing ties. He'd gone ahead and accepted Sakura as an exception, though even that, sometimes, and it shamed him to admit it, he thought of as a weakness. But expanding it further, beyond her? It was dangerous for reasons other than being tracked down. It made him think up a future in which they went back. When all of this was over. Back _home_. As if two missing nins, who had a lot more in store for them than simple desertion, had a chance at that.

In the back of his mind, there was relief as well. It helped knowing Naruto knew they were okay. He couldn't even explain it to himself. It just did. Glancing over at Sakura, and the way tension he had not even realized was there left her shoulders, he knew she felt the same way he did. He took her hand, and urged her to come away from the opening of the forest.

"I feel better now. I still… I miss it. I wish we were home. But it's better," she spoke, though Sasuke was unsure if she was even talking to him or simply thinking out loud.

"He won't give up, you know. Naruto. He'll scour the earth for us."

Both of them smiled at the thought. Naruto, running around wildly, that endless stubbornness of his dominating his every thought and action. It was easy now, to find it endearing. Now that they had perspective.

The rest of the walk towards the base was made in silence, Sakura stopping only a few times along the way to pick up mushrooms that were growing in the vicinity or some herb she'd seen or read about. They had Orochimaru's supply store in the base, but Sasuke felt more comfortable with things they'd picked out themselves. But, sadly, most of the time they didn't have time to run around hunting or gathering food.

Another day at its end, with the sun shining down less and less brightly by the minute, Sasuke prepared the fire, and Sakura came back out of the base, where she'd quickly run off to in order to get a pot and a short list of ingredients. The image was comical, a small, pink haired girl carrying a heavy, metal pot, filled to the brim, in only one, small hand.

Perhaps the ease Orochimaru's absence had given them pushed this mood over them. Whatever the reason, late into the night, Sasuke felt nostalgic enough to recall memories, along with Sakura, of their silly adventures in the village. Occasionally Sasuke would slip, and he would mention things about his family.

"That lake, you mean? The small one that nobody goes down to anymore? That's where you'd practice?" Sakura asked.

"Yes." He paused, remembering the endless practice of his katon jutsu. "I'd stand there exhausting my chakra all day, until my mouth and hands were completely burned."

Sakura giggled, making Sasuke turn towards her curiously. They had been eating mushroom stew, and Sakura almost choked on it in amusement.

"I never thought I'd hear of such a thing, Sasuke-kun. You having trouble with learning something."

"It happens sometimes," he said, though his mind wandered far into the past, to his childhood.

As if sensing the change of his mood, Sakura stretched and yawned quite dramatically, suggesting they clean up and go to bed. There was plenty of time tomorrow for things to go back to their normal pace. Today was special, and Sasuke vowed to himself that he would forget about it. He knew it was a lie, but he told himself that either way.


	13. Prisoner

The sudden commotion managed to wake both Sasuke and Sakura, who had been sleeping quite peacefully until then. Rushing outside of their room, trying to blink the sleep from their eyes, they were just in time to see Kabuto, alongside another man neither of them recognized, dragging along a young red headed woman who seemed to be around their age. She was trashing all over the place, trying to hit either of her captors, screaming obscenities at them while begging Orochimaru for forgiveness.

"Please, you know I'd never be a part of that. Orochimaru-sama! I had nothing to do with it!."

She kept begging while being dragged down the corridor, even past that point, even though Orochimaru himself remained behind, absent mindedly looking at nothing in particular. He sighed deeply, and turned his attention to the two young shinobi staring at him in confusion.

"Never you mind that. She's a subordinate who took part in a failed revolt back at another base."

"What are you going to do with her?" asked Sasuke.

Orochimaru smiled in a way that gave Sakura goosebumps, his overwhelming presence affecting her as strongly as it always had.

"We'll see."

Walking away from them at a leisurely pace, he followed the path Kabuto, the man and the red headed woman had previously taken. Sakura dreaded the thought of what might happen to the girl. The pleas of innocence would make no difference, knowing the missing nin. If anything, he'd have fun using this betrayal as an excuse to torture her in some cruel, drawn out way. Fists clenched, Sakura decided she'd find out more about the girl.

Sasuke and herself stepped back inside. They doubted there would be any more sleep that night. By the look of the small opening in their room, it looked like it was almost sunrise. Sitting down near Sasuke, on his side of the bed, Sakura reached for his hand in the dark, afraid, and thinking about the things awaiting that girl. Afraid something similar might befall either of them, should the slightest bit of insubordination be discovered.

"What are we going to do?" Sakura found herself asking.

The response she received was a cold one, though Sasuke did not let go of her hand. He merely stared at her, wordlessly questioning her line of thinking.

"This is not our business, Sakura."

It struck her as surprising. It shouldn't have. How stupid, she thought. Sakura had been telling Sasuke of how she herself had been using people for experiments, killing them each time the experiment failed. He'd never protested. It was the first time she wondered if he was really okay with killing innocents.

"Are you… do you not care, Sasuke-kun? Not just about her, but… the rest. What I do."

It was almost a question Sakura wanted no answer to, since she had no idea what to think if it turned out that he truly did not care. Justifying herself was easy when she thought she, in turn, was protecting a good person. Then she wanted to smack herself. At some point, she had to admit that neither of them really were good people, but there was comfort in the fact that neither relished in killing those who didn't deserve it.

"You do what is necessary. I'm pretty sure you've been affected by that more than I have." He paused, gathering his thoughts. "I don't want innocents to suffer, Sakura, but what can we do for her? Beside annoy Orochimaru, what can we do?"

It wasn't coldness, not really, she realized. It was him being logical about the situation. It was him thinking before acting. It didn't help that there was no excuse for what she was doing herself. What if, come the morning, she'd walk into the lab and see the girl in there, waiting to be experimented on. Would it really be that different from the others, just because they saw her being brought in?

"I need to find out more," she said softly. "Will you come with me?"

Perhaps this was merely an attempt to atone, in some way, for the things she'd done up until now. Even to Sakura, this sudden need to save the girl didn't make much sense. Not when she'd accepted to do so many things without much question. But it felt important. And, as smart as she was, she knew that feelings sometimes were stronger than logic, and she had to act on them.

* * *

The red head was most likely a lost cause. Sasuke didn't say it out loud. He could see that, for whatever reason, this endeavour was important to Sakura. But he thought it all the way through the corridors, down into what they had both guessed, a while ago, when exploring the base, would be some sort of a dungeon. Torches lit the way, giving just enough light to the metal door at the end of the corridor. There were no guards posted, presumably because this was Orochimaru's personal hideout, and though he didn't trust all of his followers, he knew they wouldn't try to pull anything with him right there to catch them.

Sasuke had to put his shoulder into opening the door, as it got stuck, but finally, and with an irritatingly loud noise, it finally gave in and opened. It was pitch black inside, and as soon as the door opened, the red head started talking again, in a calmer manner this time, continuing with the "I'm innocent" narrative. Before he knew it, Sakura stepped back beside him, having retrieved one of the torches hung up on the wall, and held it inside of the room to light the area up.

What looked like prison cells lined the walls, the girl being in the one nearest to the door. She was the only prisoner. Confusion spread across her face as she noticed it was not Orichimaru who had come for her, but two overly curious fifteen year olds. Judging by the look of weariness on her face, she didn't dare underestimate them. She obviously knew first hand the kind of people Orochimaru kept close.

"Who are you?" the girl asked.

"I'm Sakura Haruno. This is Sasuke Uchiha. We saw you being brought here."

The girl eyed them suspiciously.

"If he sent you, tell Orochimaru-sama I didn't know about the plan to overtake the hideout. I had no idea what the prisoners were planning, he has to know that!" She looked terrified.

Sasuke glanced over at Sakura and was met with the same kind of hopeless look. Unfortunately for her, they had no influence on Orochimaru. She sounded sincere enough, but Sasuke knew how easy it was to lie in desperate situations, so her innocence was not proven at all. Looking around, he realized there was not much of a point to coming here. They'd be able to talk to the girl, but no more than that.

"We're not his minions. I'm here to train with him. We don't have any influence."

Her eyes narrowed as she looked towards Sasuke, taking in his reply.

"Why are you here then?"

Sighing, he waited for Sakura to offer up an explanation, because he sure as hell did not have one.

"We just… I don't know, honestly. I don't want to find you in my lab tomorrow because Orochimaru decided to dispose of you." Sakura finished off with a shrug,

Walking closer towards the bars keeping her locked in, Sasuke and Sakura could now see that she was covered, oddly enough, in bite marks. Every exposed bit of her skin was scarred from what looked like teeth. Sasuke could not be sure, but he had heard from Orochimaru himself, rumours of a kunoichi who had an odd healing ability. If this was her, then she certainly had more of a chance at surviving this.

"Are you Karin?" he asked, attempting to confirm his suspicions.

She hesitated, though after looking at him for a few moments she nodded, grasping the bars of the cell. From the corner of his eye, he could see Sakura's brief confusion, replaced immediately by a neutral expression.

"If what I've heard about you is true, I don't think you'll be disposed of. Not right away."

Sasuke was sure he heard something in the distance. Not unusual in the base, considering a lot of people did live in it, though it was enough to make him pull the sleeve of Sakura's dress, beckoning her to go back. They both glanced back at the girl one more time before rushing out the door.

"Wait, will you come back?"

"We'll try," Sakura managed to respond before Sasuke shut the door, rushing her along the hallway back into the room.

* * *

Strangely enough, the entire expedition made Sakura more confused, not less. Sasuke knowing the girl, or about her at least, topped it all off, though in his own words, she might not be in immediate danger because of what he had found out. A moral dilemma about the pity killings she'd committed so far was the last thing she needed, with only a year left to heal Kimimaro, but it could not be helped. Blocking it all out, making the fact that the test subjects were actually people, could not go on forever. Even worse was the fact that she really, really wanted them to leave the base anyway. It wouldn't matter then, if Kimimaro died. Hell, she saw him daily. He'd probably welcome it. The sudden crisis in moral values pushed Sakura over the edge, and so she decided she'd tell Sasuke after all, that she wanted them to run away.

He was there, beside her, obviously aware of her distress. Pulling on a strand of her hair, he waited for her to gather her thoughts, and decided to explain how he knew Karin in the meantime.

"Orochimaru has various trusted people guarding his other hideouts. I heard him talking to Kabuto once about Karin, some accident at her base. I heard him say they shouldn't worry about it since Karin could heal anyone without his help."

Another talented medical nin. Properly trained ones were hard to come by, so Sakura was not surprised if Karin, with her special talent, whatever it was, would be kept alive because of it. A small relief in light of everything else.

"I want us to leave, Sasuke-kun," her voice shook, scared he might say no. "I can't heal Kimimaro. The year that passed yielded no results, and we're not even closer to finding a cure. Whatever he has, it'll never go away. Orochimaru will have to take your body, and we can't fight him. I dread the thought that there's the smallest chance we might lose to him if confronted with a fight. Please, Sasuke-kun. You're so strong now, I can tell. You can learn so much more elsewhere."

By the time she finished speaking she was out of breath. The words tumbled out of her mouth so fast she'd be surprised if Sasuke understood her whole speech. Saying the words out loud made them more real, though. It made it even clearer that she'd wanted to leave from the moment they'd gotten here. And now was the time to think of going elsewhere, because it was getting too dangerous for them to stay. For him to stay. The denial she took to and from the lab was no longer enough.

"He'd hunt us down anyway. You know that, right? Even if we do leave," was his reply, and in response to the look on Sakura's face added: "Come on, Sakura, you should know I never planned to give myself to him. I doubt he'd kill my brother for me."

The haunted look on his face let her know he was being honest. She wished that wasn't his motivation for living, but for now, she was happy it was a reason for both of them to leave this place.

"We form a plan, soon. We leave. And," she paused, considering what she was about to say very carefully, "we take Karin with us."

Sakura's fixation clearly baffled Sasuke, and he protested, Soon enough he realized she would not give in. Saving Karin would not bring anyone back, Sakura knew that. Hell, wanting to save Karin wasn't even entirely related to the guilt. She'd blocked that away for the most part, and though it hurt to know what she'd done, at the same time, the part that was hurting inside of her was almost gone by now. Buried under the reality of a shinobi's world. Especially the world of a shinobi who lived to protect another. An avenger no less. But even so, she now knew of Karin. Knew she needed help, and in spite of all that had happened, there was still a part of her that wanted to help people. They would escape the base, and hide for as long as they could. Then, whatever else happened along the way, they could take it one day at a time and deal with it. They'd manage to survive, surely, if they were together.


	14. Willingly, I Choose You

It would have been a lie for Sasuke to say he hadn't considered the option himself. Taking off and leaving the base behind. Although, not necessarily for the same reasons as Sakura. Glancing over at his supposed mentor, who was now spacing off, Sasuke could, and not for the first time, notice the beads of sweat forming on the Sannin's skin, and the slight strain in his posture the longer he was on his feet. The reality of the situation was that Orochimaru's body was starting to fail him. Pathetic, thought Sasuke, thinking of all the people Orochimaru had sacrificed to sustain himself just a little longer, and it never took more then two short years for him to grow weak once again. That thought, on its own, was a reason to leave. Sasuke Uchiha would not settle for a mentor who was weaker than him, and currently, the person he'd sought out to teach him was too busy falling apart to help him improve any longer. It was hard to think of another way to improve as fast as he had here, but that fast growth had now stagnated, and it was time to move on.

Orochimaru noticed Sasuke's intense gaze and, straightening himself up, smiled menacingly. To his credit, Orochimaru still had that air about him, radiating power and blood lust. It served well when it came to weakening an opponent by using intimidation, but Sasuke had felt worse fear. He hardly noticed the aura anymore, let alone feel scared by it. The missing nin was about to say something when both him and Sasuke felt two chakra pulses coming towards the exit of the base. Sakura's warm signal was the first one Sasuke felt, followed closely by Kabuto's erratic one. By the looks of it, they were disposing of another body, and it wasn't even midday yet.

A troubled, yet brief, look appeared on Orochimaru's face, replaced by false confidence as the medics made their way towards the training ground.

"How disappointing," spoke Orochimaru, eyeing Kabuto intently.

"I'm sure we will find a cure eventually, Orochimaru-sama. We are working hard on it."

Sakura gave Sasuke a meaningful look, and he had to stop himself from raising an eyebrow. Kabuto cleared his throat nervously and stepped beside his master, waiting for him to speak.

"Now that we are all gathered here, I would like to know, Sasuke-kun, what exactly were you doing talking to that traitor earlier?" Orochimaru asked in a tone that was both cool and threatening.

Hoping that little expedition had not been discovered, Sasuke hadn't thought of a detailed explanation. Though amazingly enough it was Sakura who confidently spoke, offering up an excuse Sasuke was not expecting at all.

"Sasuke-kun told me he might know who the girl was, after we saw her being brought in." Her tone was cold, posture stiff and looked convincingly like she was about to make a shameful admission. "I became jealous and wanted to know more about her. "

The arrogance Orochimaru sometimes displayed was one of his weaknesses. He still thought so lowly of Sakura that clearly he believed the petty excuse. His immediate response was a mocking laugh, though Kabuto, who was stood right beside him, didn't seem that convinced. Never giving much thought to how much time Sakura had to spend with the other medic, Sasuke realized that at the very least he'd know Sakura better by now. But, to his dismay, he did not know if Kabuto was more aware of Sakura's empathic side, or the side that cared about Sasuke as much as it did.

"Well, you did follow him here like a puppy, didn't you? Stay away from my prisoners unless you have my permission. But, to put your mind at ease, I doubt you have any reasons for jealously, child, seeing as the girl won't be around for much longer. I have a better medic right here."

It was a twisted kind of compliment. The kind only Orochimaru would offer, to tell someone they are the more talented subject, therefore making the other disposable. Sakura offered up a smile, pretending the compliment affected her positively. All Sasuke could think of was the second weakness that was now clear about his mentor. He underestimated even those he kept around for being talented. That would certainly be useful.

Under the pretense that he had to make preparations for the next day's experiment, Orochimaru ordered Kabuto to come with him and make arrangements for who the next subject would be, adding a joke about his sudden preference for red hair. As soon as they were gone, Sakura threw a chakra enhanced punch at a dummy placed near their position, shattering it into so many pieces Sasuke could hardly identify them anymore. Her breathing was heavy and she had tears in her eyes. Placing a hand on her shoulder, Sasuke cocked his head to the side, waiting for her to explain what she was thinking.

"Didn't you pay attention, Sasuke-kun? He said he doesn't need her, because there's a better medic here already. I'm not letting anyone die because of me!"

Her perspective wasn't necessarily right. Sasuke was sure Orochimaru had merely thrown in the comment to present a weak excuse for killing the girl. It was simply the kind of game he liked playing. But, Sasuke knew how easy it was for Sakura to take it personally, how desperate she'd be to save a life she thought she was now responsible for. Despite what she was doing with Kabuto, Sasuke had never considered Sakura a murderer. Perhaps it was his own ego and arrogance speaking, excusing her behaviour with the determination he knew she had to help him. Killing, in a way, loses much of its meaning when you plan your whole life around a murder. Although, Sasuke was reluctant to call the killing of a filthy traitor such as his brother murder. Alas, he did not hold anything against Sakura, knowing the people would have been killed either way.

"You said it yourself, we're taking her with us. We could do it tonight, or any night. We can leave at any time."

His agreement to leave still baffled Sakura, though she did not voice the thought out loud. She was even less incline to protest about it now that she herself was so eager to leave.

Looking to lighten the mood, now that their departure was inevitable, Sasuke turned the topic to something he was genuinely curious about. A small part of him felt pleasure at the thought Sakura could be jealous of Karin, though he doubted that was truly on her mind. It was hard to remember exactly when he realized that teasing Sakura was oddly fun, and seeing her reactions to simple words of his made him feel light and warm. It was a wonder, most days, that he was capable of such emotions. Harsh, cold avenger. Deserter. No doubt soon to become a criminal. Yet here he was, feeling a great, big, pile of confusing _something_ for his childhood friend and companion. Some days he doubted that was an accurate description of exactly what they were, but it would have to do until he figured everything out.

"Was there any truth to that, Sakura?" he asked, pulling on a strand of her hair.

"To what?" she asked, following his fingers with her eyes.

"You being jealous."

It was hard not to smile at the incredulous look on Sakura's face. It was ridiculous, even bringing it up, under the circumstances, but he couldn't help himself. He did laugh out loud when she puffed her cheeks and gave him a dirty look.

"Of all things to wonder about, Sasuke Uchiha, you choose that!"

She hadn't answered, which was interesting. He took a step closer to her, forcing her to bend her head upwards to continue looking him in the eye.

"Well, were you?" he asked, leaning in closer.

The slightest part of her lips, the way her breath stuck in her throat, body leaning forward just a little as if to meet him halfway. Forgetting about revenge was impossible, but briefly getting lost in Sakura's presence, that was entirely probable, and even more than that, it was common.

"Not jealous, no." Biting her lip, she suddenly looked away. "Orochimaru collects rare talents, doesn't he? Well, I couldn't help but think, after you told me about her, that she might be better as a medic..."

The amusement was almost entirely gone from the situation. Though not moving away, Sasuke's expression turned serious. Sakura was, in this regard, the opposite of him. While always harsh on himself, Sakuke could acknowledge he was a powerful shinobi. Sakura, on the other hand, seemed to crumble before the possibility that she still had things to learn. She underestimated herself, and that in turn made her fall behind even though she hated that.

"Can you say you're as weak as you were two years ago?" Sasuke asked.

She shook her head, eyes moving back up towards his.

"Then two years from now, you'll get to say the same thing. That's the point here, Sakura. You get stronger for what you have to do. You don't stop in your tracks if someone might be better. You surpass them. "

The Uchiha had never been good with words, or voicing his feelings, but this was something he'd had to learn the hard way. Confronting Itachi, realizing all he'd worked for was not for nothing, but still not enough, that was the defining point. Every time he took a step forward, he had to learn how to take ten more and stop counting the ones behind him. He hoped Sakura could eventually learn that as well. And at the very least, she looked much more at ease by the end of his little speech.

"I used to tell myself that I loved you because I couldn't cope with being here for any other reason," she changed the subject abruptly.

Sasuke was confused by the sudden admission, though waited for her to continue before asking anything.

"I don't want to say that I didn't mean it back in the village, that I wanted to come with you. That I didn't want to lose you," she paused, "but for a long time, I clung to the idea that it was because I loved you too much to leave you behind, because otherwise, I was stuck here, in this place, doing god knows what horrible things, for no good reason."

It was a perfect parallel to Sasuke's own motive. His hatred guided him through life, controlled every single turn he took, every movement he made. Sakura, she followed the same path as him out of love, and he never understood how that could be. And so it made sense, this admission, that she had merely used it as a coping mechanism for the choice she made rashly. It hurt, to think about it. It was a hollow in Sasuke's stomach, not knowing if this confession was going to turn bad.

"But," and this time she looked straight at him, grabbing him by the collar of his shirt,"I think a while ago it stopped being an excuse. I learned to live with my circumstances. I also learned that I love you beyond just using you as the last piece of home I had."

Hands moving without Sakue really guiding them, they came to rest on either side of Sakura's neck, his thumbs moving gently across her jaw. Hearing the loving words she had for him when they were thirteen was special, Sasuke did not deny it even in that particular moment when he wished she hadn't spoken them. But now, years later, when both of them have had to grow so fast, in such circumstances, it took a whole new meaning. Sakura Haruno had chosen Sasuke, not as a comfort to a life she was unsure of, but to love in a life she was prepared to continue living. He'd kissed her before, spontaneously, not understanding the particular meaning behind it. But now, he kissed her with purpose. He kissed her so that his lips could silently say thank you for giving him something more than darkness. He kissed her because he finally realized he'd found a home in her as much as she'd found one in him.

Unlike the other erratic kisses, this one allowed him to think. With every movement of his mouth, and his hands caressing her skin, he wanted to let her know that he'd chosen her as well. On impulse, all those years ago. Out of comfort, throughout their stay here. And now he was finally choosing her fully aware of what it meant. He was choosing a life of darkness, and pain, and yet his life included Sakura because inevitably, she had already become part of it.

Breaking away from him, though looking as if it was the last thing she wanted to do, Sakura placed her hands on top of Sasuke's and spoke:

"We need to plan, Sasuke-kun. If we're doing it tonight, we need to know how."

The base seemed unguarded for the most part. Sasuke wondered if that was carelessness or arrogance on Orochimaru's part, or it it simply meant he had ways of finding out about things without them noticing. He did, after all, know about them taking to Karin, and though they weren't particularly stealthy, Sasuke did not know the exact thing that gave them away. The most obvious way, for now, was to simply try to walk out during the night time, break Karin out as quietly as possible, and deal with whatever resistance as it came along. He said as much to Sakura, and though it seemed like uncertain territory to tread, she couldn't come out with something better either. All that was left now was for them to pack whatever belongings they could take with them, and wait for night fall to come, hopefully without any surprises.


	15. The Sharingan

"We should go over this again," whispered Sakura as they stealthily walked back down towards the underground section of the base.

"I'm not sure there's much to go over, Sakura. This is as simple as reckless plans get. Break Karin out, come back up, exit the base and run like hell."

Sakura's anxiety was off the charts, unsure as to whether or not something might go wrong. In the event of getting caught and captured, well, there was hardly any chance of survival for her if that happened. So, while they slowly approached the metallic door once again, Sakura could only chant "everything is going to be fine" in her head over and over, trying to calm herself down. Once they were facing the door, Sakura gave a chakra enhanced push, this time the door opening much easier than the last, and with less noise as well. At least there was that. The torch Sasuke was carrying gave off enough light to see the bruises on Karin's body, and the wild hope in her wide eyes hidden behind a pair of glasses. Sakura put one finger to her lips, asking for silence, as she approached the thick bars of the cell door. They were ridiculously hard to bend, even with her strength, and it took a few minutes to part two of the bars just enough so that Karin, whose hands and feet were bound, could crawl out. The chains binding her were easier to break, but made a lot of rattling noise as they fell to the ground. Enough noise, in the empty room, that they had not realized someone had come up behind them, blocking the doorway.

There stood Orochimaru, an amused expression on his face, and pure venom in his eyes. Swaying a little as he stepped into the room, he looked all three of them up and down, from head to toe, licking his lips.

"What do you think you're doing, Sasuke-kun?" he turned his attention to the young Uchiha, as if Sakura and Karin were not even there.

As soon as Orochimaru had finished speaking, Sasuke did something Sakura had never seen before, and the movement was so fast she was not entirely sure how it happened, and if there were any hand seals involved. She'd seen his Chidori before, but this was different. It was an odd manipulation of the lightning element, and it formed a freakishly long sword-like shape going all the way from the palm of Sasuke's hand into the arms of Orochimaru, who could move only fast enough to block his chest from taking the most damage. Rage flashed across the man's face for a brief second before shedding his body – literally. What came out of it was an enormous white snake, whose very scales looked like smaller serpents, shining in the faint light of the torch now discarded on the floor.

Sakura pushed Karin back towards the corner of the room, not sure how she could act against the creature. Both girls stared in wonder at the battle that was about to commence. While Orochuimaru's true body was terrifying, the battle aura Sasuke was releasing was equally scary, and impressive. With the gentleness he kept showing Sakura, it was easy to forget what this young man had trained for. What they had come here for in the first place. His power, when unleashed, could surely rival Orochimaru's, and with that thought, Sakura's confidence in being able to escape grew.

Waiting for the right moment to jump in if necessary, all the pink haired kunoichi could do was observe the fast movements going on in front of her. Sakure's slashes, with his katana, injuring Orochimaru's snake body with every hit, going around in circles trying to deliver a fatal blow. Sakura realized that Orochimaru quite literally had forgotten about the other two people in the room, and as insulting as it was, to be treated like nothing more than a fly on the wall, she decided to take advantage of the ignorance. Her movements were unnaturally slow, and she could not pin point the source, but when Orochimaru had his back to her, preparing to strike at Sasuke, she jumped, fist first, enhanced with all the chakra she could muster and hit the snake at the base of its skull. In that same moment, Sasuke struck with his katana, completely severing the head, and landed along side Sakura on the now filthy, bloody floor.

"P-poison," spoke Karin in a soft yet alarmed voice.

"What?" asked Sakura.

But she noticed it as well. The blood on the floor eliminated fumes which in turn made her feel sluggish, and by the looks of it, Sasuke and Karin were just as affected. The big, snake eye of Orochimaru was staring right at them, and that's when Sakura noticed Sasuke was not merely stood there motionless, but his expression was vacant, his body there, physically, but his mind stuck somewhere else.

* * *

Strange, foam-like matter covered the Uchiha, crawling up like snakes from the level of the floor up to his neck. Facing him on the opposite side of the strange place he was now in, was Orochimaru in the body they had known him for until moments ago. He was covered in the same substance, radiating of victory. Taking in his surroundings, Sasuke realized that the matter covering him was all around, occasionally forming the shapes of actual people, no doubt the people who have been used by Orochimaru in the past. So, Sasuke concluded, this must be the ritual for the jutsu the missing nin had been waiting for so long, though come quite earlier than expected.

"I hoped you'd be a good boy and wait a little longer, but this will have to do," spoke Orochimaru, his words echoing in the large space surrounding them.

"What is this place?" asked Sasuke calmly.

It was clearly not a genjutsu. His Sharnigan would have seen through it immediately. And it was obviously not the dark, bloody dungeon he had been in a minute ago either.

"It's a separate dimension inside of myself. As you have probably guessed, this is where we will hold the transmigration ritual."

The facade had cracks in it, Orochimaru clearly struggling to keep control of the process. Sasuke knew it took three years for Orochimaru to need to change his body. Now it was clear that, even weakened already, it was a struggle for him to attempt the process this early. There was no clear understanding behind what was going on, but at the very least Sasuke felt confident, even more so than before, that his ex-mentor's desperate scheme would lead to his death. Looking around again, at all the faces of those who had been absorbed by the desperate man, Sasuke felt fury surge inside of him. He was reminded of another shinobi. Another traitor. One who, too, decided he would test the limits of his powers.

"You're pathetic, Orochimaru. I could never allow someone who is weaker than me to take over my body. Matter of fact, you only want me because you could never have Itachi. I could never trust you to defeat him," Sasuke spat out at the man.

"Say goodbye to those eyes of yours, Sasuke-kun."

The Uchiha almost felt like laughing at the pathetic way in which Orochimaru tried to threaten him. So many times has the Uchiha bloodline been underestimated, their eye powers both feared yet ridiculed. Only a wielder of the Sharingan could understand the few things that constitute as its weaknesses, and Orochimaru did not possess anything strong enough to overpower it. In the end, it was easier than he'd imagined, disintegrating this dimension of Orochimaru's, turning the process against him and reversing it, absorbing the man who used to be a great Sannin.

* * *

"Sasuke-kun… Sasuke-kun, what's wrong? Talk to me!" Sakura begged.

"It's no use," spoke Karin, who was slowly making her way closer to them. "Orochimaru-sama is attempting to take Sasuke's body as a last resort. "

Rushing over towards the head of the snake, Sakura mindlessly hit it as many times as she could, crushing it to the point where it was unrecognisable. Karin kept telling her it was no use, that it was a mental process, not a physical one, but Sakura couldn't seem to stop. She felt Karin's hand trying to still her arm, which she was now swinging violently at the snake.

"I don't think he'll be taken over. There have been rumours before, about the body transfer jutsu Orochimaru-sama uses. How he failed to use it before the three year time period. I know it's only been two years since the last time. "

Karin's words brought little to no comfort until Sakura could be absolutely, undoubtedly certain. But she couldn't afford to just fall apart, in case Sasuke needed protecting. In case someone else stumbled upon this mess they've created. Turning her attention to Karin, who looked even worse up close, she decided she'd focus on trying to heal her. Not saying anything for a while, merely letting her chakra work as Karin looked at the procedure cautiously, she could feel herself calming down a little.

"Why did you break me out?" Karin asked after long moments of silence.

"We're leaving this place for good. I wanted to make sure we could save the one other person we knew needed help," Sakura's reply came uncertain.

This girl was a stranger, but surviving one of the most notorious missing ninjas together did a great deal in terms of fast bonding, so even though there was no trust established, there was the kind of comfort that comes along with being near someone who understands your terror.

"Thank you," Karin said after a brief moment.

Before any other words could be exchanged, Sasuke's sharp intake of breath brought both the girls' attention onto him. He stumbled a little, but immediately got a hold of himself. Sakura shot up, but did not approach until she was sure it was Sasuke who was now staring at her. He took a step forward and smiled at Sakura in a way that let her know, without a doubt, without needing any other confirmation, that whatever internal battle had taken place, Sasuke Uchiha had won.

"What happened, Sasuke-kun?" she asked, rushing forward to hug him quickly, make sure he was still warm and alive under her touch.

"It was foolish of him to think he could ever beat the Sharingan," was Sasuke's response.

Rushing out of the dungeon, closing the door behind them, Sakura suddenly though of Kimimaro, and how he was now stuck in a room full of machinery, fighting for breath for no reason at all. Motioning with her hand, for the other two to follow her, despite the string of protests Sakura received in response, she kept walking towards the dying man's room. More like his morgue. Checking for Kabuto's chakra signature, which was nowhere to be found inside of the room, she pushed the door open and scanned her surroundings briefly before stepping closer to him. It was an odd feeling, having him look back at her, as he always would when he was awake, waiting to be poked and manhandled. Sakura thought back on the last year or so, and even further beyond that before she was even here. What a dehumanizing process it was to be dying in the arms of people who wanted to use you. His eyes scanned her blood covered clothes and looked back up at her with a questioning look.

"Orochimaru is dead."

Kimimaro was not someone Sakura had gotten to know intimately, but the little she knew of him always told her he was fiercely loyal to the missing nin, despite what he had planned to do with him. There was a pained expression now, on his face, and he didn't even bother to reply. Didn't even dare look at her anymore. All the times she'd come in here to use him like some kind of a dummy meant for training, he'd never complained. Now, this news, that he was free, it was what broke the little civility he still had left to offer.

"Just get it over with," he said, still not looking at her.

And she did. It took one punch, and she didn't even have to put that much effort into it, he was that weak already. One single punch to end the life she had killed for, even though that wasn't strictly true. It was hard to grieve for what she had done, considering that by all standards, death was kinder to Kimimaro than living had ever been. She took only one moment for herself, looking down at his corpse, after which she turned back towards her companions who had been observing her and stepping past them outside the room.

All three of them now rushed outside of the base, running in silence, extremely cautious about their surroundings and on guard for anyone who might come after them to stop them. It was paranoia, surely, since the base was so large and everyone so busy with their own tasks that it was almost a sure thing no one knew what had happened. Yet, the magnitude of it weighted on the three shinobi now running through the forest, as far away from their enemies as they could.

Karin was clearly unwell, from being kept in a prison cell, most likely starved and obviously beaten. They occasionally slowed their pace for her to catch her breath, even a little, but they knew they could not afford to stop until they had put some distance between them and whomever was left behind to come and hunt them down. Orochimaru was a feared man, not a loved one, so Sakura allowed herself to hope that in the aftermath of his death, there would be few people still loyal to the dead man who would want to hurt them. If anything, people should be thanking them for the service. But, optimism aside, they couldn't risk it so they ran until they couldn't feel their legs anymore.


	16. Pink Locks

The fire roaring in the middle of the small camp was the only noise currently being made, alongside the stream of a river in the distance. After hours of running, everyone decided it was okay to stop and rest. The moon was low in the sky, a sign the night was almost at an end, and the serenity the woods and running water provided was enough to make Sakura's muscles relax, even though the adrenaline still coursing through her veins told her to be on high alert. There was a long silence between the three of them, no doubt brought on by the exhaustion of the long night they had just had. Still drenched in blood and filth, Sakura suggested that they make the camp near water, so that they could wash off and quench their thirst. It was a relatively warm night, and with their clothes drying on the tall branch of a tree above them, all that was left was to try and get some well deserved sleep. In the end, Karin seemed to be the only one who was truly at the edge of exhaustion, her heavy breathing falling into the soft rhythm of sleep in no time.

Chewing on the last bit of the rabbit they had previously managed to catch and roast, Sakura was wondering what came next. Thoughts of Konoha were close to her heart, more than her mind. Otogakure was not far from Konoha. They could make their way back if they wanted to. But to what end? Who knows what the consequences of their desertion would be. She shook her head to dismiss her thoughts, knowing hopes of going home were pointless.

"What are you thinking about?" asked Sasuke quietly.

"Just wondering what might come next."

"I've actually had a plan B for a long time now, Sakura."

The admission shocked Sakura a little. So far, even she saw Orochimaru as a sure thing. Whatever else the man might have been, he was certainly one of the strongest shinobi she had ever known of. And Sasuke had killed him. Whatever that made the Uchiha now, it didn't matter. All Sakura knew was she was proud. Raising one eyebrow, she waited for Sasuke to explain himself.

"Early on, I assembled a team, in my mind. One I would go looking for once I killed Orochimaru. I already told you I had no intention of giving myself to him. I'll need all of them to find Itachi. It's actually why I knew of Karin. After hearing talks about her, I looked into it and her talents, not only as a medical ninja but also as a talented sensor would be useful. It just so happened that she fell into our plan at just the right time."

Glancing back at the young woman, whose red hair had an even more vivid colour in the light of the fire and the dawn, Sakura wondered what the full story behind her talents were. She'd been accused of leading some sort of rebellion inside of a hideout she herself was in charge of. It wasn't hard to imagine the kind of things Orochimaru must have done to her before it got to that point. Remembering Kimimaro she shuddered, not sure she wanted to know the details.

"What if she doesn't want to help?" Sakura asked.

"We'll have to make due, then. I have others I can choose from."

The next stage of what they had to do was hard to come to terms with. Itachi Uchiha was a strong shinobi who had murdered his entire family. A family made up of strong shinobi with unique talents and eye powers. It seemed like all that was certain in their – in Sasuke's – future was that they'd have to pick fights with enemies that only got stronger. What a frightening concept, yet there was no going back at this point. Sakura couldn't help but scoot over, closer to Sasuke, and wrap her arms around him. Close her eyes, and pretend he'd always be there. Warm, and safe, and alive in her arms, always out of harm's way. Sasuke mirrored Sakura's actions, propping his forehead on her shoulder and allowing his body to relax into her touch.

"I'm scared for you," she couldn't help but say.

"I'm scared I'll get you hurt in the process," he also admitted.

What remained unspoken was that their worries were pointless. Not because everything was going to be okay, but because they had no control over what might happen. Before, when Sasuke was so distant back in their time with Team 7, she didn't understand this fixation, his behaviour like the future had already been written for him. Even as she was begging him to stay she thought she might persuade him. What it took for her to understand was watching him, and living with him through the last two years. The way he'd literally work himself to the bone, like his own body was a secondary priority. The way he allowed himself to be in harm's way, like his revenge was more important than his own safety. It made her realize there was never a chance. Her pleas were too shallow for someone like Sasuke, whose future had been decided the moment he lost everything and had to cling to the one, final something left in the world. It wasn't like that for Sakura and she knew it. She had something to return to, should she choose it, and Sasuke would never try to stop her. But the thought was ridiculous. Danger was secondary. Her well being was secondary. What mattered to her now was that they were together, and she had a feeling that, if that would be the case until the very end, somehow they'd both make it out of this alive. She had to believe that.

"We should probably sleep as well. Plenty to plan later in the day," came Sasuke's words.

So he leaned back, pulling her down him with, still holding her closely. Readjusting herself, now Sakura lay on her side, head resting on Sasuke's shoulder, hand placed on his bare skin on his chest, allowing herself to feel the steady beat of his heart, while his own hand tangled with her hair, making small motions with his fingers as he was holding onto a single strand. She fell asleep almost immediately, enjoying the safety physical closeness offered her, allowing herself to finally give into exhaustion.

* * *

Sasuke woke to the smell of cooked fish. Opening his eyes he saw Karin leaning over the rekindled fire, overlooking their next meal. It worried him that she had woken up and started moving around without him being alerted by her presence. He couldn't afford that kind of carelessness. She mumbled a greeting but seemed preoccupied. Sasuke shook Sakura awake, who was still sleeping in his arms, and when her confused face looked up at him, he pointed towards the fish. They'd both followed Karin's example and dressed in the now dry clothes still hanging off the tall branch of the tree, after which they moved closer to the fire, each picking at a hot fish.

"Karin," Sasuke started, not wishing to delay his invitation any longer.

She looked up at him questioningly.

"I'm on a mission to find and kill Itachi Uchiha. I'm going to assemble a team to help me with that goal, and I picked you a long time ago to be part of said team. Come with us."

"Fine."

Sasuke knew for a fact that Karin, unlike most of Orochimaru's subjects, was actually his subordinate, whom he trusted enough to run one of his hideouts. He braced himself for some protesting, no matter what the Sannin has done to the girl. It surprised him that she had given in so easily. So much so that he became suspicious of her. Outwardly, his only reaction was to raise an eyebrow at her.

"Well, it's not like I have anywhere else to go, do I? My job was to run a lair. I got thrown in a dungeon for that, apparently, so fine. I'll come with you."

There were two other people he needed to find and ask, and he could only hope it'd be just as easy with them. Though he doubted it. Suigetsu, located in the base nearest to the one they had been in, would be okay. From Sasuke's research, the man has no loyalty to Orochimaru, is being held captive by him and has his own agenda to pursue. It'd be easy enough to convince him. Juugo, on the other hand, would be harder to reason with. It wasn't his dangerous disorder, the one that made him lose control and go on a killing spree, that concerned Sasuke, but the man's genuine desire to not hurt anyone. Sasuke would have to come up with something to convince him it was okay to be free as long as he was around to stop his fits of rage.

"We should get going soon, then. I'm going to bring some fresh water, so we have supplies, then we should set out," said Sasuke, picking up the two water flasks off the ground.

The girls both nodded at him, finishing off the food, both looking like they were in deep thought.

* * *

"Karin-san," Sakura strated to speak.

"I think we can drop the formalities, since you did save my life. Sakura, was it?"

Sakura nodded, offering Karin a warm smile. If she were being honest with herself, the concept of having to work together with some of Orochimaru's subjects made Sakura extremely uncomfortable, but she had to make the best out of every situation. She did not want to hold any kind of prejudice against anyone Sasuke might need.

"Does anything still hurt? Do you want me to take a look at you?"

Karin offered her a smirk in return, becoming more lively. That was right. She was also a medic. The bite marks, even more visible now with the sun shining on them, made Sakura wonder if they were part of the ability she heard the girl had. Not wanting to pry, in case she was wrong, Sakura focused her attention on another, smaller matter. She looked down at her pink locks, flowing down freely from her shoulders, almost reaching her abdomen. Life of inactivity in a lab allowed her to grow it out, but as she'd found out before – and in a highly inconvenient way at that – if she was to run around on missions again, she'd rather the hair just go. Sakura picked up a kunai she had on hand, taking it out of her medical pouch she'd attached to her hip. Gathering all of her hair in a fist, she was about to make the cut when Karin, who was looking over curiously, offered:

"You want me to do that? I'll come out more even."

Sakura nodded, and handed the girl the kunai, allowing the hair to fall on her back.

"Pity. It's a pretty colour," said Karin, moving behind Sakura and chopping off one long lock.

Shrugging her shoulders, Sakura looked intently towards the ground, trying not to let the shallow part of her miss the long hair she was so fond of.

"It's too long. It might get in the way."

There was no response for a little while, then Karin, after clearing her throat, asked:

"Is that why he chose you? Sasuke. For your healing abilities?"

For whatever reason, Sakura felt a little shy to admit she'd followed him from the village. While technically not true, since she was carried halfway to Orochimaru's hideout, it was still what she'd had in mind. She worried, and it made her feel slightly inferior. After all, the rest of Sasuke's chosen team would be people with specific abilities, vital to the plan. Sakura was a spontaneous decision. Before she could wallow in her insecurities, though, Sakura remembered the conversation she'd had with Sasuke not too long ago. The one that ended with his lips on hers. She smiled to herself, knowing that she was also chosen, though for different reasons.

"I came with him, actually, from Konoha. We were teammates back home."

Silence stretched out for a while, and as time passed Sakura's head felt lighter, all of the hair being now gone, Karin focusing on evening out the tips. When she was done, she simply ran her fingers through Sakura's hair once, handed the kunai back, and leaned over to face Sakura and said:

"That's pretty brave."

Eyeing her bruises, Sakura couldn't help but feel flattered by the compliment. This was a person who also knew the weight of her choice, having been with Orochimaru for, possibly, much longer than either her or Sasuke.

As she began gathering up all of her hair, ready to throw it into the now dying fire, Sasuke stepped from between two tall bushes, glancing over at her short hair, and cocking his head to one side questioningly. Sakura smiled, remembering when she had first cut her hair in the wild, like this. Touching it now, it made her miss Ino terribly. What followed was chatter about the direction in which they would now be headed while they packed up the little they had managed to take with them. Taking the time to erase all trace of their camp, they then slowly started walking through the woods, towards the next base they would be visiting. Sasuke inquired briefly about Karin's own base, and if there was anyone there left to free, now that Orochimaru was gone. Unsurprisingly, but still disturbingly enough, her reply was that she was the only person taken alive from there, after the failed revolt. The captives who had planned it, along with everyone else, had been killed.

In spite of everything the mood felt quite light. Sakura imagined that going through such an ordeal together did wonders to the connections the brain formed. Now free from the base, free from Orochimaru, it was easy to enjoy walking through a forest, and look forward to new sights to see. Pushing aside the task ahead, which was still far, far away, Sakura vowed to enjoy every moment she had with Sasuke, and still keep to the promise she'd made back in the village. That she would undoubtedly make him happy. Now was a more important time than ever for that.


	17. Suigetsu

Jiraya chose secluded places for their training sessions. If anything got out of control with Naruto's kyuubi chakra, at the very least, in an isolated location, it'd only be the two of them getting hurt. As Naruto was focusing on the second chakra presence within himself, or at least trying to, he was distracted by the distant sound of someone clearly approaching them. His sensei was alerted as well, and signaled for Naruto to be quiet, both shinobi looking towards the predicted spot the presence would emerge from. He was wearing a Konoha headband, and had a distinctly irritated look on his face. Naruto thought he might have recognized him as one of the faces coming in and out of the Hokage's residence, but couldn't put a name to him. The man respectfully greeted Jiraya, and approached Naruto, hand stretched out, carrying a note.

"The Hokage, Tsunade-sama, is requesting your presence," explained the man, repeating what was written on paper.

"What's this about?" asked Naruto, knowing Tsunade would never interrupt his training unless something big had happened.

"That is for the Hokage to explain."

Jiraya shrugged his shoulders, knowing that the summon had to be answered, curious himself as to what this was all about. They were a few days away from the village, and so they set off immediately, back towards Konoha.

* * *

Being so isolated from the rest of the world, Sakura had forgotten how lively even random pathways through nothing but greenery and nature could be. They encountered many travellers, some stopping to ask for directions, some wanting merely aimless chatter. Sakura enjoyed the piece of normalcy travelling offered. In the few days they'd been on the road, she'd discovered two things about their new companion. One, that Karin was, despite her initial, reserved behaviour, a very lively and outspoken woman. She was not shy of complaining, especially once she found out who the other choices for Sasuke's team were. Constantly she kept trying to persuade Sasuke from bothering with the other two she referred to as "a menace and a freak of nature". The other was that, though she tried to hide it, she was clearly drawn to Sasuke. Sakura was not jealous, not quite, but it was at the same time not a pleasant thing to think about, should Karin try to make a move. Not wanting to insult her with assumptions about how she'd behave, even knowing there was something going on between Sakura and Sasuke, she never voiced her concerns.

Presently, Karin was walking in front of them, using her sensory abilities to try and detect any threats ahead, as they were nearing the second base of Orochimaru's they'd have to visit. She would occasionally stop, concentrating on her surroundings, but immediately resume her regular, fast pace. Sasuke was walking in step with Sakura, as quiet as ever, although most likely anticipating the upcoming meeting with this Suigetsu person Sakura did not know. While deep in thought, she did not notice Sasuke's gaze on her, nor his hand moving to tug at her hair briefly. Looking up at him curiously, she saw a subtle smile spread on his face.

"I kind of miss it. I liked playing with it."

It had become one of his habits, whether he wanted to get her attention, or simply have some sort of physical contact with her, he'd pull on a strand of her hair. Sakura enjoyed it each time.

"It's not practical. I always preferred it short when we were on missions."

Sasuke nodded, probably remembering the same scene as her. The Forest of Death battle in which she first realized how weak she was, doing her best but barely enough to protect her teammates. The long hair, back then, was grown out for Sasuke himself, because of the silly rumour he had a preference for it. Sakura could not lie, and say she did not like it anymore, or the thought that Sasuke did develop a preference for long hair, at least hers. But, she felt better with it like this. It reminded her, in a way, to be strong.

"Well,"Sasuke spoke, glancing towards her one last time, "it suits you either way."

It was such a methodical way of speaking, as always. Sasuke was not one to dwell on emotions or unnecessary pleasantries. He always spoke like he was stating hard facts, even when complimenting someone. There used to be a time when Sakura identified that as coldness. She now found it so endearing she could not help but quickly tip toe towards him, grab his arm to keep him in place and kiss him on the cheek, smiling and blushing as she let go, resuming her casual pace of walking. His expression as a response to the gesture was soft, a little confused and a little warm. It only made Sakura happier when he took her hand, holding it for the rest of the way.

* * *

Tsunade was sitting behind her desk, Shizune at her side, handing her various papers – which she kept giving the evil eye to – in order to sign them. Naruto's familiar greeting made her look up from her task, and as Naruto started demanding the details of his summoning, she raised one hand, her expression turning grave. Naruto had taken to leaning over her desk, bending over to be at an eye level with the Hokage. She sighed, leaning back into the chair, before looking at Naruto and finally speaking.

"The reason I've interrupted your training is because news has reached us that Orochimaru has been killed."

"Was it them?" Naruto asked hopefully, eyes lighting up.

Tsunade nodded, leaning forward again, her elbows on the table, propping her chin on her intertwined hands. Briefly, she looked over at Jiraya, who was standing farther away, next to the door. The short explanation she had to offer was not for lack of wanting to discuss the issue, but rather the fact that there was not much to tell. It was likely, she said, that Sasuke and Sakura were at the very least involved, if not responsible, and that in the aftermath of the Sannin's death, the hidden base he had been running, now no longer kept a secret by all those who deserted the place, was left empty. Whatever experiments had taken place, or equipment stored, were all gone, moved or destroyed, with no clues as to what he was doing in there. Most of it went straight over Naruto's head. All he cared about were his friends.

"Are they coming home then?" he asked excitedly.

"It is not likely," Tsunade replied, giving Naruto a concerned look.

Naruto's mentor, Jiraya, intervened into the conversation. Putting a hand on Naruto's shoulder, to keep him and his temper at bay, he began reporting to the Hokage about the information he himself had been gathering about Akatsuki, and the little he did manage to find out about their movements. Itachi Uchiha was the known target of Sasuke. Itachi Uchiha was also a known member of Akatsuki, the criminal organization targeting the hosts of the Bijuus. Little was known about his movements or whereabouts, the latest reports being of a supposed attack on Sunagakure and its Kazekage. Nothing more than rumours about when and how such an attack might – if it did – take place.

"We need to go after them. We need to find them!" Naruto demanded, and he protested as soon as Tsunade's expression revealed rejection.

"We know nothing of either targets, Naruto. It's too soon. For now we wait. We need information, a plan, a team. I can't send you running around, wildly yelling for Sasuke to show himself."

Naruto wanted to protest again, but he was shut down, Tsunade's severe tone showing she was being entirely serious, and no reckless behaviour was to be tolerated until a plan was in place. She reminded him, above else, that the only reason Sasuke and Sakura were being searched for, and not hunted down, was because of her and her willingness to tolerate Naruto's wild goose chase.

"Don't make me regret informing you. I know how much you care for them, so I thought you ought to know about recent developments. But, cross me, Naruto, and that will no longer be the case, ever."

Finality and severity. That's all her tone showed in the end. It frustrated Naruto to no end, sure, and he would never simply rest easy until more information revealed itself, but he tried to focus on one thing. They had defeated Orochimaru. He was dead, they had been victorious. He didn't know if they were safe, but he could hope it. And, remembering Sakura's letter, the one he hadn't told anyone else about, he also remembered his friends still cared.

* * *

Subtlety was of no consequence with this particular base, Sasuke noted, as he looked up at the obvious entrance and took in its size. This is where he'd find Suigetsu, according to his research. While apparently rather large, the base would be easy enough to navigate if he knew what to look for. Sakura and Karin, also beside him, were waiting for his instructions, to which he responded with an assurance that it wasn't necessary for all of them to go inside. He figured approaching Suigetsu on his own was the best course of action. Leaving behind Sakura's worried face and Karin's impatient one, he was on his way towards the entrance. The layout of this base was different. Most of it seemed to be used as storage for prisoners, large openings in the walls, blocked off only by thick bars, revealed dozens of men and women in various conditions, cramped up together like cattle. It made Sasuke angry just remembering what they were being used for.

He made his way to a lower level, opening several doors to empty labs until, finally, he found what he was looking for. The room was rather large but empty, equipment laying around here and there, but nothing to dominate the room. Towards the very back wall, a large tank filled with what looked like water stood almost as tall as the ceiling. Approaching it slowly, observing it cautiously, Sasuke knew he was right when he heard it speaking.

"So, it is true then. You have defeated Orochimaru," the voice said, seeming to come right from inside of the tank.

"Nevermind that. Let's get you out of here."

Sasuke took out his katana and slashed at the glass keeping the water trapped, and took a step back away from the influx of water pouring out. The wetness of the floor quickly started forming in the shape of a person, a slender man with light hair, his sharp teeth showing as he was smirking at Sasuke. Suigetsu rose to his feet, his bare skin illuminated by all of the artificial lights in the lab.

"The rest are waiting for us outside. Put some clothes on and let's go," Sasuke said.

Suigetsu dissolved once more, his presence appearing behind Sasuke almost immediately, pressing against him, two fingers pointed towards Sasuke's head. He was close enough that Sasuke could feel the other man's breath on his neck as he was speaking, asserting his independence, questioning Sasuke's bossy attitude and overall trying his hardest to sound intimidating. The Uchiha was not fooled.

"Phew, not even a slight change in your heartbeat." Suigetsu spoke in a lighter tone. "I was joking, obviously. I wanted to see whether you were the real deal or not."

"Now that you're done with that, can we get going?"

Suigetsu nodded, and started rummaging through a drawer near the exit to the room, finding appropriate clothing to fit him. He asked for details about the others Sasuke had mentioned, the dislike Karin had expressed for him earlier apparently being mutual. Having all of his complaints shut down eventually led to a request.

"I'll follow you, since you saved me, but I have one place I want us to stop by before that."

Sasuke nodded, knowing first of all, that there was much time to spare. It would take a while to discover the location of his brother, follow his movements, learn his goals and track him down so that Sasuke could finally kill him. As they were walking towards the exit of the base, Sasuke looked back at the prisoners, looking awfully sick and starved. Stopping in his tracks, he decided there was no point for them to be locked up anymore. He asked Suigetsu if there were any keys to the overcrowded prison cells, and the man broke down a door to a nearby room, returning with a set. Splitting the keys between the two of them, to work more effectively, they liberated all of them, at least the ones who could still walk.

"Remember who saved you," spoke Suigetsu in an arrogant tone,"tell the world Sasuke Uchiha has done you this service."

Sasuke was unsure as to exactly how that would help, other than establish a certain kind of reputation for him. If anything, it would send word of his coming to any possible enemy. The one he was seeking out, in particular, would be interested by this news. The Uchiha smirked to himself, pleased that somewhere, somehow, Itachi Uchiha would know that Sasuke was coming.

* * *

Waiting for Sasuke to return, there was not much for the two kunoichi to do other than simply walk around in circles, be on the lookout for anyone who might be coming and chit chat occasionally about random things. Karin, she found out, was actually not trained in medical ninjutsu as much as she knew how to control her chakra well, and had an ability to guide that towards her special ability. People had to, quite literally, bite into her flesh in order to receive the healing chakra. Sakura shuddered, finding only the thought of it highly unpleasant. Karin on the other hand smiled at her reaction, saying she was very much used to it by now.

"Can I ask you something?" Sakura spoke quietly after a while, stopping to look at Karin from a short distance away.

The seriousness of the tone had Karin assume the same kind of demeanour, looking up curiously, and nodding towards the pink haired girl to let her know it was okay.

"I don't mean to be rude but I've noticed your attention on Sasuke-kun and..." trailing off, biting her lip at how silly she sounded even to herself, Sakura left the rest of the thought unspoken.

How trivial. A concern about another girl liking Sasuke. Sakura felt shame at caring about such a small detail, but when she was younger she had the bad habit of keeping her real thoughts to herself. If she was to become Karin's teammate, in the real sense of the word, honesty and communication would work best, she decided. At the very least she could be honest about her feelings.

"I've also noticed you and Sasuke. How close you are."

A harsh response. Karin sounded almost insulted, but sighed deeply and released some of the tension in her posture, shaking her head.

"Listen, Sasuke Uchiha is sort of a legend nowadays. Strong and handsome, and on a quest for power. It's easy to fall into the habit of admiring that idea. But," and she paused, looking fiercely at Sakura,"seeing you and Sasuke, I'm not the kind of woman who would insult either of you by intervening. Most of all, I would not insult my own character by becoming one. Besides, I simply admire his strength."

"I'm sorry, Karin. Honestly. I didn't even mean to imply such a thing. I was just… being childish, I suppose."

To that the girl smiled, taking Sakura's hand in her own and squeezing gently, reassuringly. There were many miles to walk between this moment, and any kind of true friendship between the two of them, but it was a start. In the warmth of a simple, comforting touch from one who wished to let you know there was an understanding between the two of you, Sakura found the beginning of a bond. Thinking about Naruto, and how alone he must be feeling, it only made her try and cherish this moment even more.


	18. The Land Of Waves

Bickering and disagreements became the soundtrack to their journey towards the Land of Waves, where Sakura found out they would go to retrieve Zabuza's sword. Their newest companion, Suigetsu, was presently busy arguing with Karin over a minor thing that was mentioned over an hour ago. At first it was worrying, that such a small thing could provoke them, but soon after it became clear their mutual dislike was not that deep. If anything, Sakura suspected they simply shared a love of disagreeing with each other and an immense amount of stubbornness. Sasuke's constant sighs showed he was not nearly as amused by the whole situation as the pink haired medic was. He even called out to them a few times, but somehow they still managed to get back into it.

Blocking out their arguments for a little while, Sakura couldn't help but pay attention to the mixed emotions currently swirling in her chest and stomach. Looming in the distance, she could see the outline of the bridge they'd overseen being built such a long time ago. A bridge of hope. One that meant an end to cruelty, and dependence on a man who was not worthy of holding lives in his hands. Their first mission together that really, truly threatened their lives was a precious memory to Sakura. Despite the horrors she had seen, experienced and survived, it was a story with a good, although bitter-sweet ending. It also felt like an entire lifetime ago.

They had finally reached the very edge of the bridge, and Sakura, looking up at the large sign showcasing the bridge's name laughed out loud. Glancing over at Sasuke, she could also see a soft smile spreading across his face as well. The Great Naruto Bridge. A great, obnoxious, orange little ninja yelling out his hopes of becoming Hokage. The two matched perfectly. She only hoped that Naruto himself knew, or would find out, what was left behind after their mission. It reminded her of a connection she thought she'd lost, but somehow still felt deep within her. Taking Sasuke's hand, she squeezed it, trying to silently convey her feelings to him. He merely squeezed back.

"What are you staring at?" Karin asked, Suigetsu also leaning forward beside her, staring curiously.

The story was too long to explain, and also she wasn't sure Sasuke or herself wanted to share it in full, so she gave the simple explanation:

"Naruto. It's the name of a teammate from Konoha. We were here when this bridge was built."

"I heard about that," spoke Suigetsu, "your team defeated Zabuza here, didn't it?"

"Defeated isn't the right descriptor," said Sasuke.

"But, we did fight him here," comlpeted Sakura.

While argumentative, stubborn and lively, Suigetsu wasn't a bad person to be around, decided Sakura. He took to walking closely beside her, asking both her and Sasuke details of the fight. Zabuza's movements, his great sword, how he used it, the most effective way to stop it. The man clearly idolized the dead shinobi to some extent. Sakura saw his point. While a missing nin who had done a lot of horrible things, at the very least he had been a great fighter, whose strength was certainly worth admiring. Careful not to get into any emotional details, Sakura and Sasuke both obliged and answered first Suigetsu's question and then Karin's as well. With every step they took on the bridge, they also relived, by speaking it out loud, some memory regarding their mission. Although, once reaching the bit of land overlooking the bridge, where Zabuza and Haku had been buried, they all fell silent for a while.

"I kind of forgot the size of that," said Sakura, peering at the enormous sword buried in the ground.

Suigetsu took it, and swung it reluctantly a few times, trying to get the grasp of it. He was more thin than anything, so she wondered how on earth he could fight with that sword in battle. Her expression must have betrayed her thoughts, because he assured her, in a snarky way that he could handle himself and she shouldn't underestimate him.

"We've been walking for ages. Don't any of you think we should probably stop for the day?"

Karin's question brought Sakura's tiredness into focus. The weather was hot in this part of the country, and walking in the sun for hours on end really made her want to eat something sweet, drink something cold and rest beneath the shade. Even Suigetsu, who had been arguing with her all day, managed to hold his tongue and nod in agreement. Considering that they hadn't been here in years, since the island was doing quite poorly, Sakura was excited to see the changes time and free trade brought. And so they set off to find the town.

* * *

It was decided as soon as the town was reached that a supply run was in order, all four of them needing various things personally and for the trip as well. Considering the job would be done most effectively if they would split up, the pairs were quickly decided based on how likely the two were to murder each other while paired up. Sakura's calming personality would go with Suigetsu, who was more interested in exploring than buying, and Sasuke himself was left with Karin.

Walking through the now crowded streets of the town, the Uchiha thought back to when they were last here. Poverty was the main characteristic of the land. Things took a turn for the better, obviously. Each small shop or tea house they stopped to check out was nearly packed, renovations being done to certain buildings, while other had already undergone such procedures. The image of a skinny child, longingly looking into a nearly empty store through the window was now replaced with children happily pointing at random toys and snacks they wanted, and their parents shaking their heads in disapproval though smiling while handing over the money to the shop owners.

"What are you smirking about?" Karin asked, pointing in the direction of a small shop she wanted to enter.

Making their way through the door, Sasuke glanced at the goods spread out throughout the small, but cozy room. Up in the front, there were fresh, baked goods eliminating a homely, pleasant aroma. Peeking around Karin, towards the other side of the room, were the things they needed. Supplies for the road such as dried up food that would last longer. Sasuke took his time answering Karin, simply because he did not know how to express what he was feeling about the new success of the town.

"Last I was here, this place was a mess. You were lucky if you could find one fish that wasn't completely rotten."

"Looking at it, I can't even imagine it," replied the redhead, eyeing a particular pastry that was covered in molten cheese.

The shopkeep had began staring at them, Sasuke feeling the burn of the intense gaze on the back of his head. Once they had picked up as many rations of food they could carry and pay for, Sasuke and Karin proceeded to pay for them, trying to associate a motive with the obvious interest. Was it the Uchiha crest on his back, he wondered?

"Damn, I thought my eyes were deceiving me, but it is you," the young man serving them said.

Inari. The little boy, the grandson of Tazuna, their old client, was the one currently serving them. No wonder Sasuke didn't recognize him. The boy grew so much he was nearly at Sasuke's height. Smirking at the young boy, while packing the supplies, handing half of them over to Karin, he responded:

"I didn't expect to see you selling pastries."

"My grandpa built this place for my mom, soon after we last saw each other. She always loved cooking and with the success of the bridge, she thought it was time to do it for other people as well. I just help her out sometimes."

The rest of the chat was brief, Karin inquiring more about the food than Sasuke talked to the kid himself. Of course questions about Sakura and Naruto were asked as well, to which Sasuke only responded that each were busy with different missions, and could no longer work together at the time. It wasn't even a lie, really. Sasuke's mission to eliminate Itachi should have been Konoha's, after all, not that he really wanted anyone else to intervene. Wanting to get away from the kid's curiosity Sasuke excused himself, leaving with a bag of fresh buns Inari insisted on giving them for free.

In the bright sunlight, with Karin making some complaint about having to meet up with Suigetsu again, Sasuke felt almost as if the road he was on was leading to a home, not a lifelong goal of revenge. Whenever he started thinking like this, he couldn't help but attribute it to Sakura. Ever since she'd been added to the equation, he was forced to also think beyond the point where the mission would be complete. One full second was how long he allowed himself to imagine shopping with Sakura for their weekly needs, after which he pushed away the thought and walked towards the town inn, where they had previously agreed to meet up.

* * *

"So what's your deal?" asked Suigetsu, clearly bored of the mental list Sakura was going through, throwing a handful of bandages into the basket she was carrying.

"Deal with what?" Sakura briefly looked up at him, confused.

"I know where four eyes comes from. I've never even heard about you, though."

Sakura smiled to herself, after which she began explaining briefly how she had come to join Sasuke. Suigetsu, following her around the store as she gathered the few medical supplies she wanted to have with them, kept making lively exclamations. One on one interactions with him were not bad at all, she noted, and just like with Karin, she merely needed to give him a chance. He seemed to be the kind of person who always needed to fill in the silence, which Sakura didn't mind, because he did it by asking a lot of questions. What was in the ointment, how did that work, how can she memorize all of this nonsense. His responses were always along the lines of "this makes no sense" but the curious presence was welcome nonetheless.

Making their way outside, the light haired man leaned over Sakura, who was rearranging the items in her bag, and asked:

"How did you convince Orochimaru to take you in? He used to take what he wanted, not grant favours."

Perhaps for the first time, the man had a grave expression on his face. Sakura could not presume to know what he had gone through at the hands of the missing nin, but the seriousness he now displayed told her that it wasn't something to tell your children about. Tainted by Orochimaru's influence did not necessarily mean being a bad person, she realized. From her own experience, sometimes all you could do was adapt. Thinking of their final member they had to pick up, it seemed as if a weight had been lifted off her shoulders.

"I had to show him I was valuable," she said, though thinking back on the experience, she found she could not look him in the eyes for fear of betraying what that meant.

Walking a little faster than necessary, Sakura felt her companion's presence giving her the distance she needed. When she was there, it was easier to ignore what she had to do. Now, in this moment, admitting it to someone else, all she could feel was not only the shame, but also surprise at its magnitude. Holding the bag of supplies tightly to her chest, she had to focus on trying not to cry. Time for self pity was long gone, and it wouldn't do well to show such vulnerability either. Shortly after, Suigetsu had caught up to her, and offering to take the bag from her for a while, he also responded in a serious, but not cold tone.

"Yeah, we all had to."

Perhaps it was not intended as such, but Sakura took the words as intended to bring comfort. Their pace slowed and, looking to lighten the atmosphere for both of them, Sakura began teasing Suigetsu about Karin. Several times, on their way to the inn, she laughed out loud at his reactions, or rather overreactions. Too clearly could she see how close the supposed dislike between them was to turning into fondness. As contradictory as the sentiments were, the line between them was as thin as a strand of hair. Half annoyed with her, though, Suigetsu kept on glaring at Sakura all the way to the front desk of the inn, where they were told their companions had already settled into the room they'd all be sharing.

Karin and Sasuke were both sitting down at a table packed with delicious looking pastries and tea. Sakura made her way over as well, setting the bag on the floor in-between herself and Sasuke. The food was made even more delicious when Sasuke quietly told her where it had come from, and she couldn't help but note his light mood in response to the town's prosperity. It was certainly a mutual thing, and it did not fail to make Sakura's chest feel warmer. Glancing over at their other two companions, she noticed a small difference in Suigetsu's demeanour. While still sounding argumentative, he refused to look directly at the red head. Sakura suppressed a smile for fear of giving away her thoughts. She had been teasing him earlier, but the thought seemed to hold even more truth now that he had been made aware of it. Considering what they were all gathered here to do, it made Sakura happy she could still enjoy small things such as this one. Only time would tell what could become of these two.

In the meanwhile, she focused her attention on Sasuke who, she'd noticed, had been staring at her.

"What is it?" she asked.

Sometimes this happened with him, and it was nearly impossible to get an accurate response on how he was feeling. He smiled, pulling at the sleeve of her top a little, but shook his head. Many things were, no doubt, taking place inside of his mind. Sighing, Sakura knew pushing the matter wouldn't do any good. Jokingly, she pouted at his inability to express himself clearly, and was rewarded with a laugh. The sound of whistling captured their attention, however. Suigetsu, looking positively evil, was smirking in their direction.

"You know, the place might not be full. You could easily get a room."

The comment was directed at both of them, but as a sign of karmic justice, Suigetsu looked straight at Sakura. Red spreading across her cheeks, it only deepened when Karin, too, was smiling at Sakura, trying to be subtle, not showing that she clearly thought them to be as obvious as Suigetsu did. Sasuke dismissed them quickly, commenting on how they better focus on their own mindless arguments, but Sakura saw the tips of his ears redden just a little. Her stomach did strange things, and she wanted to smile, but really, all she could do was bury her head in her hands to hide the ridiculously intense colour of her skin.


	19. Juugo

**Author's Note: **I want to say a quick thank you to every single one of you who are reading this. I'm one of those anxious writers - the ones who, the moment they press publish, immediately think everything they've written is actually really horrible. So, every follow, fave and review, any bit of feedback makes my entire week. Thank you for sticking with me so far.

* * *

Dominating the landscape ahead was the Northern Hideout, its entrance not hidden as much as it was embedded into the mountain. As far into the distance as Sakura could see, it was clear this part of the country was completely secluded. No one would dare approach the dead area leading up to this place. There was no wind to blow off the heat of the day, so Sakura was sweating bullets, reaction partly to blame on Karin's explanation of the base they were about to enter.

"As I tried to say before you interrupted me," she spat at Suigetsu, "this place is different from all the other hideouts. Orochimaru's worst experiments took place here, including the birth of the Cursed Seal."

Pausing, while eyeing each of them closely to drive the impact of her words further, she proceeded to explain who Juugo truly was. A man who came to Orochimaru of his own, free will. A man who was responsible for going off into a blind rage and murdering anyone in sight. And to top it all off, Juugo, the originator of the Cursed Seal was the reason the very base they were about to enter was filled to the brim with other successful experiments. Sakura realized that unlike the other places Orochimaru had governed over, this was not a hideout, or a prison for his captives. This was a cage full of monsters.

"So," she finished off, "if you really insist on bringing Juugo along, I'm afraid that might end in us killing him, if he doesn't do it first."

Glancing at Sasuke to see if there would be any change in the plan, she saw him dismiss the concerns fairly quickly. Karin rolled her eyes at the decision, Suigetsu merely gripped his sword and Sakura herself sighed, pulling out her black gloves from the hip pouch. Walking in silence towards the mountain, they could now see that people were coming out of the base in various forms of disfigurement. One shake of Karin's head let them all know Juugo was not among them. The closer they got, the clearer it became that there was no reasoning with them. Threats and mocks were being shouted at all four of the shinobi now standing face to face with the Cursed Seal bearers.

"I don't want any of them dead," was the only thing Sasuke had to say.

Katana in hand, he rushed forward, injuring the man closest to him, rendering him unconscious. The rest of the team soon followed his example, each picking off their enemies one by one. A woman who was much taller and more muscular than Sakura came at her, clearly underestimating the small, pink haired kunoichi. Playing into her belief, Sakura pretended to cower before her, allowing the woman's confidence to grow and get closer, by which point Sakura had finished channelling chakra into her first. Dodging the monstrous woman's slashing with her inhumanly sharp nails, Sakura landed a hit in the middle of her chest, sending her flying backwards, hitting two other enemies along the way, also distracting her teammate's opponents in the process.

Repeating the process of knocking out enemies over and over again, Sakura lost count of how many people she'd had to face. It seemed like there was a never ending line of people waiting to fight her. Moving closer to the entrance of the base, which was completely empty of adversaries, Sakura called out to the other three shinobi:

"Get behind me, quickly!"

Sasuke, with his unimaginable speed, finished off his enemy and within seconds was behind Sakura. The other two jumped next to her, kicking enemies in the process, driving them away. The moment all of her comrades were safely behind her, she released a chakra enhanced kick to the ground, focusing on directing the power towards the group of people advancing towards them. A fissure was created in the ground, as well was flying bits of debris. The two elements combined knocked their enemies into the small crater in the ground, falling on top of them and keeping them in place, or flat out liberating them of their consciousness. As the dust was settling on the hole in the ground, Sakura exhaled with relief, happy she efficiently managed to incapacitate the last group of enemies left to face – on the outside at least.

Turing towards the others, to asses if they were injured or not, she was met by two looks of shock and one of delight. Sasuke, to Sakura's absolute joy, was subtly smirking at her. Karin and Suigetsu shared a look of amazement, both expressions looking comically alike. It amused Sakura, who now simply thought of her strength as something she had as a tool to use in any situation. Feeling a little flustered because of the attention, she motioned with her head towards the entrance, so that they could continue on inside.

"Thanks for that," Karin said, falling into step with Sakura as they entered the dark corridor.

Giving her a warm smile, Sakura, as well as the others, stopped upon seeing Karin close her eyes and focus on tracking Juugo. Noting that the pulse of chakra was faint, drowned out by the nearer presences within the next room, all she could come up with was a vague direction which they were quick to follow. This room was already taken care of for them. It seemed like the residents of the hideout had fought among themselves, a lot of them laying down unconscious and bleeding, and only some having enough energy left to look up at them and groan as the four shinobi passed by their wrecked bodies.

Encountering no more resistance along the way, they followed Karin through the maze of corridors, finally stopping in font of a thick iron door. Behind it, in the room where Juugo lay, they could hear faint muttering that none of them could understand. They all looked at each other, wordlessly confirming the next course of action. Sasuke was approaching the door slowly, wanting to be the one to talk to Juugo. The other two members of the team would stand back, in case things escalated and intervention was needed. As for Sakura, she stepped beside Sasuke, leaning against the wall next to the door, nodding at him once, after which he slowly pulled the door open.

An incomprehensible scream of victory echoed from inside of the cell, and before Sakura knew it, Juugo was rushing forward in an attempt to kill Sasuke who, due to his immense speed, managed to get out of the way, leading to Juugo crashing into the wall opposing his room.

"Stop moving so I can kill you!" the large, orange haired man screamed.

Sasuke dodged once again as Juugo kept trying to land hits on him, half of his body covered in marks similar to the ones Sakura had seen on Sasuke such a long time ago. Juugo seemed to ignore all reason, even though Sasuke calmly spoke to him, trying to explain why they were there, what they needed him for, and simply asking the man to stop. The more he went after Sasuke, trying to obviously kill him as brutally as possible, the angrier Sakura became. Clenching her fists tightly, she channelled a small bit of chakra into her palms, which she now flexed in preparation. It seemed like enemies ignoring her in favour of fighting the Uchiha was going to become a common occurrence, and Sakura once again was prepared to use it to her advantage. Before Juugo had another chance to try and attack, she leaped forward and placed one palm of her hand on his neck, squeezing tightly, and the other at the base of his spine, channelling her chakra precisely, making it flow through his spine and incapacitating him.

It was a strategy she had come up with on the spot, and thankfully for her it worked. Focusing her medical jutsu on repairing one's cells was something she was accustomed to, and it taught her that the places where her chakra had taken control, the muscles she was working on had stopped working on anything outside of healing themselves. This was a subtle reverse of that procedure. Visualizing Juugos cells splitting apart and then reattaching themselves over and over again, she managed to incapacitate the man, rendering his torso useless. Not knowing how far she could take it without causing actual, permanent damage, Sakura was forced to restrict herself to only this area, and so Juugo was still able to move his arms and legs, the latter which he used to kick at Sakura, one particularly painful hit landing on her upper thigh. The force of it made Sakura loosen her grip, and bite back a moan of pain as she swayed a little. It was just enough for Juugo to regain some measure of control to turn around and land a hit on her ribs which sent her crashing into the wall. Through the daze and blurry sight caused by the hit, she saw Sasuke moving at the speed of light, summoning a large, thick snake that wrapped itself around the murderous man. Holding him still, placing a hand around the man's neck and emanating a powerful, murderous aura himself, Sasuke spoke in an angry, yet collected voice.

"You attempt that again and I will be forced to end you. Calm down right now."

Sakura felt Karin's arms on either side of her torso, helping her get up to a sitting position and running one hand over Sakura's ribs, deciding from the yelp of pain the pink haired girl gave that at least one of them had been broken. Blocking out the pain, focusing her attention on Sasuke and Juugo, she saw the large man's demeanour change rapidly, his violence quite literally melting away, and as soon as Sasuke's snake released him, he ran back into his cell, screaming at Sasuke to lock him in and never allow him to hurt anyone ever again.

"Juugo, I need you to come with me. Just as I stopped you now, I can stop you again. I won't let you hurt anyone."

From the darkness of the room, Sakura could make out only Juugo cowering away from the door, looking towards them apprehensively. She slowly walked closely towards the door, and was stopped by Sasuke a distance away. Raising her voice, making it sound clear and calm, she spoke to him:

"You felt that, didn't you, Juugo-san? Your muscles couldn't move as long as I was performing my jutsu. I can use that on you. Sasuke-kun can also incapacitate you if he needs to. You don't have to lock yourself away in a cage until you die."

Now calm and collected, Juugo almost seemed smaller, meeker. He came towards the door frame and looked at her regretfully. Nodding respectfully towards her, and Sakura suspected it was guilt that pushed him to agreeing, he stepped out of the cell once more and eyed all of them cautiously. His plain shorts and t-shirt he had been wearing ended up torn from the fighting, so Sasuke suggested he find something appropriate to wear and return, while the rest of them tended to Sakura. Suigetsu gripped the hilt of his sword, announcing he was going along to guard the new addition to their team, just in case he had another excuse to practice using his weapon.

Karin helped Sakura slide down to the floor to a sitting position, and felt around her ribs to assess the damage properly. Sasuke knelt down beside the two girls, wearing a frown on his face as he asked Sakura if she was okay.

"I'm a medical ninja, Sasuke-kun. I'll be okay," she spoke softly to reassure him.

Preparing to once again channel chakra, she was stopped by Karin who had extended her arm forwards, uncovering it, and the many bite marks along with it.

"But… I don't want to hurt you by biting," Sakura said, alarmed.

"You did it for me once, didn't you?" the red head smiled, bringing her wrist near Sakura's mouth, allowing her to bite.

It was an overwhelmingly strange sensation. It did not feel like targeted healing jutsu. It was more like Karin's chakra was spreading through her entire body, healing anything along the way that might need fixing. The coppery taste of blood ran down her chin, though Karin did not even wince. When she felt confident she could get up on her own and not hurt or fall back down, she released the girl's arm and wiped the blood off of her lips. As a small gesture of thank you, she healed Karin's bite mark, and both laughed at the odd exchange of healing jutsu. When all that was done, Suigetsu and Juugo had both returned, and Sasuke grasped both of Sakura's hands in his, helping her get up from the stone floor.

As they began walking towards the exit, once again navigated by Karin's sensory ability, now guiding herself using their fallen enemies outside the base, Sasuke stepped closer to Sakura and put one arm around her waist, pressing her against him so that part of her weight was being carried by him.

"I'm okay now, really. Karin is a good healer,"

He grunted briefly in response, but did not let go, and she gladly pressed herself against Sasuke, happy to feel the weight of his concern for her in the strong grasp holding her up as they walked. Finding their way out seemed to take less time, and before they knew it, the overwhelmingly bright sun was shining down on them, reminding them all they had a long walk back through dry and sandy planes before reaching the nearest town once again. After a few minutes of walking, after having left their still unconscious enemies behind, Sasuke brought all of them to a half, explaining the situation and their mission one last time, for Juugo's sake, and asking them all if they were certain they would remain part of the team.

"From what I hear, Kisame of Kirigakure is your brother's partner. I want to find him so, sure, I'm sticking around," said Suigetsu.

"Seems like it'll all be a pain in the ass, really, but yes. I'm sticking around as well," Karin followed, offering up a deep sigh.

All eyes were on Juugo, who Sakura did not really know anything about, therefore could not think of a reasoning to stick around and help them, aside from the promise they'd stop him from hurting people again.

"I don't know much about this Akatsuki business, but Sasuke Uchiha, you seem like a strong shinobi. You and your pink haired friend..."

"Sakura Haruno," she confirmed her name.

"Sakura, seem to know how to handle my fits as well. So, if I want to see the light of day again as a free man, I guess I better give something in return."

It was settled then. Their team, now fully formed, was ready to begin the mission of tracking down an Akatsuki duo formed out of two incredibly strong missing nins. Before Sakura could continue worrying, she noticed all eyes on her, especially Sasuke who was still supporting her by now holding onto her arm. Fixing her incredulous gaze on him, she asked.

'You're kidding, right?"

The exchange seemed to baffle Juugo, who didn't say anything, but the rest of them, Sasuke especially, seemed to almost share an inside joke. It was clear she was the least likely to leave Sasuke's side, and whether or not how obvious she was could be considered pathetic or brave was of no concern. Sakura simply felt happy to know that perhaps quite soon, all of this would be over, and they could think of going home.


	20. Update:Question for the readers

I need to ask this question before continuing the story any further, simply because I want to see the general opinion on this matter. How do you guys feel about me straying from canon? One of my biggest challenges so far has been whether or not to faithfully stick to canon material and events. I want to keep the Itachi fight and reveal, as well as Sasuke's little meltdown because I know I want to write my own version of that, but do you guys want to see the war, the Kaguya fight etc.? That has been my personal least favorite part of Naruto, and at least when it comes to how things develop after the Kage Summit arc, or maybe even before that, I want to create my own version of it.

Being a canon divergence AU, this fic gives me a lot of freedom, but at the same time I want to take what you guys feel into consideration as well so if you'd be kind enough, please tell me, how much do you care about me following canon vs. developing an original story past the Itachi reveal point?


	21. A History of Grief

**Author's Note: **I did _not_ expect that many responses to my previous update, so thank you all for your input. I value you guys as the readers, so I wanted to make sure me straying from canon was going to be enjoyable for all of you as well. Thank you, truly, for sticking with my story and I hope you enjoy today's angsty chapter.

* * *

"Are you sure we're going the right way?" asked Karin for the sixth time.

Sasuke had heard the question too many times now, and it was getting on his nerves. It was true that the last time he'd been to the Uchiha clan hideout he was very, very young, but the place was still familiar. He could find his way around the area just fine.

"For the last time, Karin, it's supposed to be hard to find." he retorted.

"Maybe if you stopped nagging him, he could get us there faster." added Suigetsu

Sasuke did not have to turn around to know what happened. The sound of splashing indicated Karin had hit Suigetsu in some form and he'd liquefied in order to avoid any damage. Even so he complained about the hit and they began arguing. Again. He knew they all had skills he needed in order to find Itachi, but in moments like these, when they exhausted him mentally, he doubted his own decision making. Juugo and Sakura were the only ones not complaining, the former occasionally stopping to interact with one forest animal or another. Despite his issues with control, he seemed to emanate a very calming aura around animals. Part of the reason why Sasuke needed him in the first place.

After a few more minutes, Sasuke could feel the mental blur caused by the genjutsu cast around the Uchiha base. Having both the Sharingan and knowledge of it made it easy to dispel, the stone pillars, steps and the Uchiha crest on the door leading downwards suddenly coming into focus.

"Is that it, then?" Sakura asked softly.

The others looked at her, confused, which served as a reminder to Sasuke that Sakura did have an aptitude for genjutsu. He should look into training her, otherwise it'd be a complete waste.

Acting without his prompting, Sakura touched each of their companions in turn, pushing a small amount of chakra into their systems to dispel the genjutsu for them as well. Following Sasuke down the short flight of stairs leading downwards, all five of them entered the base in silence. The last time Sasuke had been here, with his brother, the place was full. The Uchiha clan would pass through here on their way to or from a mission, picking up food and weaponry, catching up with each other, sharing strategies or talk of their families back in the village. He remembered walking through a crowd of his clan elders, wide eyed, excited to be all grown up and strong so that he could join them in protecting the village. The kunai he used to train with Itachi were from here as well, he recalled. He had to push away the wave of emotions that was threatening to ambush him. In the middle of the dark corridors was not the place to feel them.

Interrupting his line of thought, up ahead, were Denka and Hina. Two of the ninja cats he'd met when they were only kittens.

"If it isn't Sasuke," spoke Denka, looking pleased to see him again.

Suigetsu leaned over the cat, attempting to stroke his head and noted how strange it was for a house pet to be talking. Denka's violent hissing made him take a few steps back, alarmed at the hostility.

"They're ninja cats. I don't suggest messing with them unless you want to become a scratching post," he told the white haired man.

Hina merely asked for a treat, to which Sasuke responded with their real reason for visiting the hideout. He could tell Sakura was observing him closely, most likely being able to sense a disturbance in his mood at being here. He chose to ignore it, seeing as there was not much to do about it, and followed the two cats deeper into the base, to meet with Nekobaa. The old woman sat on a large cushion, cross legged, in the middle of a large and well lit room. All five of them greeted the old lady respectfully, after which Sasuke, for what seemed like the millionth time in such a short amount of time, began explaining his mission and why he'd come to the base. Nekobaa nodded towards a shelf full of weaponry to her left, which some of the others took as a sign to walk around and look for anything they might need.

Sasuke sat down in front of the old woman, Sakura kneeling next to him, though remaining quiet while he and the old woman talked.

"To think that this is what the mighty Uchiha clan has come to. I remember you and Itachi when you were little. Two kittens walking around, following each other's tails. And now the last two members of such a renown clan are out to kill each other. A pity."

Unsure as to how he could even respond to that, all he did was nod sadly. Sasuke didn't much like considering the idea that he'd be the last Uchiha left in the world after his mission was complete. Enemy or not, Itachi's existence provided someone to share the burden with. A burden the man himself had caused and would pay for. Anger flared up inside of Sasuke once again, erasing all other feelings he might have for the man he called his brother.

"Tamaki, prepare a room for our guests to rest in," Nekobaa said to her granddaughter who had just entered the room.

"Not necessary, we can't stay for too long. But thank you for your help."

Sasuke stood up, quietly walking away from the rest of the group and entering the hallway they had come from once again. Hesitating in front of a door nearby, he entered finally, taking a deep breath. The room was tiny, and completely empty save for the dozens of pictures lining every wall of it. His eyes found shinobi from the Uchiha clan he hadn't been alive yet to meet. Then, following their order on the wall, he advanced through history until he found himself in several of them. He was holing a kitten in one, his father looking down at him. In another he saw all four of them, Itachi holding him by the collar, to stop him from running away, their mother caught mid laugh.

The day his family had died, he'd cried so many tears he hadn't felt the need to ever since. Missing them came in many other forms. A sudden jolt of his body, coming awake after a dream or nightmare involving them. Catching a glimpse of himself in the mirror, seeing features they all shared. Not knowing how to breathe normally when birthdays he could no longer celebrate passed. He hadn't cried since his family died, no, but he always felt that something about their absence. The indescribable grief he typically blocked out with his rage.

Some time had passed, and he felt her movements approaching him before she even left the supply room. He felt her hesitating at the door, just like he had, and then a polite knock before entering slowly. She remained there, stood by the door, giving him distance should he need it.

"I just wanted to see if you were okay. I can leave if you want me to." she whispered more than spoke.

Turning towards her, he saw her leaning away from the closed door, shoulders bent forward almost as if, at a word from him, she'd sprint at him or away from him. A rare instance, but Sasuke did not trust himself to speak out loud instead of not wanting to. Opting for a hand motion, he beckoned her to come closer. And so she did, biting her lip to try and hide her worry. Sometimes, Sakura trying to hide her emotions from him was like trying to hide the sun during daytime. Stepping beside him, she asked about the pictures. And he began telling her. He'd had no idea this intense desire to share his family's history, their very existence, was there to begin with. But without realizing he just spoke and spoke about each person, telling Sakura everything he could remember about his clan members, and then his family and his life at home before it all happened. He had to pause occasionally, because the weight of what he was carrying was overwhelming, but then he'd go on again, until he reached the day he'd never spoken of out loud.

Before getting the chance to speak again, Sakura took his face in her hands and smiled at him through the tears in her eyes. She tip toed and tried to kiss him on the forehead, as a comforting gesture, but she was too tiny next to him so she'd resorted to kissing the tip of his nose. The gesture made him smile in spite of everything.

"You have been so, so brave, Sasuke-kun." she said, looking at him with a kind of fierce determination.

Relief filled him instantly. Sasuke Uchiha had never imagined he needed to have his pain, or his strength acknowledged. Not in this way. And perhaps if it was coming from anyone else it would simply annoy him. But Sakura saying those simple words, and listening to all the things he didn't know he needed to say somehow made him feel lighter. No one knew the kind of pain he'd endured, and he knew Sakura had no real way of understanding the depth of it. What she did though, was feel pain because she knew he felt it. They shared it in a way he didn't think possible. She made the weight of the world feel bearable.

"I love you." felt like the natural response to what she'd done for him.

For an instant, her green eyes widened enough he feared he'd shocked her to death. It seemed all too obvious to him, the sentiment he'd just shared, but he was made aware he was not the most expressive of people. The smile that followed made it all the better. Sakura was a cheerful person. She smiled and laughed with everyone. It was in her nature to be positive and chatty. This one, though, this one was different. It was like she didn't have enough space on her face to smile as widely as she wanted to. Like the sun itself was trying to escape from inside of her.

"I thought it was too obvious to say it?" he asked more than said.

Her clear laugh echoed in the small room, bouncing off the walls right back into Sasuke, improving his mood even more.

"You already know I love you, too, Sasuke-kun" was all she said.

And God knew sometimes that's all that allowed him to sleep well at night and wake up in the morning.

* * *

Having to return to the rest of the group, Sakura felt all kinds of things in the minute they'd walked back through the poorly lit corridor. Something had taken place that only does in such ethereal moments. In small rooms that feel closed off from the rest of the universe, with people you'd give the world to because you've seen them lose it. Sakura knew it was good Sasuke acknowledged his grief in the way he did, by talking about his past as something he missed. She was unsure as to what prompted him to tell her he loved her, because she'd done nothing but almost cry because of how sad his life had turned out, but it made her feel like she was floating.

"About time," Karin said as they walked back inside.

"We've bought all the supplies we'll be needing," added Juugo, holding out a bag to showcase his point.

While Sasuke walked towards Nekobaa to say his goodbyes, Sakura remained behind, feeling as if she pried enough into his personal life for one day. Suigetsu, still hell bent on being unnecessarily suggestive about her and Sasuke every time they were alone together was making faces at her. Quickly shutting him down, she knew this one instant was entirely inappropriate. He raised his eyebrows in surprise, and Juugo, who had silently made his way beside them, commented on how sombre the place felt, because of the history of the Uchiha clan. That seemed to enlighten Suigetsu as to why Sakura was not having it.

Rearranging the new weaponry she was given in her hip pouch, she walked behind the others, almost weighed down by what they were about to embark on. She couldn't imagine how Sasuke felt, or if the others understood the immensity of the situation. All she really knew was that she wanted it to be over with already. So, as soon as they stepped out into the sunlight, Sakura was the first to question what they were to do next.

"We spread out. We need to follow different leads and see what yields any kind of results. Suigetsu, there's someone I want you to interrogate. That big sword of yours will be helpful intimidating the man. Juugo, I want you to follow your animals and see if there's any word about Akatsuki movement and where. Karin, you'll go through a town nearby and listen for gossip. It's not that likely to turn out good information but we need to try it. Sakura, go with Juugo. I doubt anything will happen while he's out in the wilderness but it'll be safer if you're with him to stop him, in any case."

They were to also split up further up ahead at a certain place that would become the meeting point once all information was gathered, and so they headed together in silence, each contemplating their task and the severity of what would take place once it was accomplished.


	22. Mission Start

In the light of the dawn, the team was now fully assembled. Kakashi could feel Naruto's nervous energy, his tenseness visible. Beside him stood team eight, Hinata glancing nervously at Naruto, whose excitement and anxiety were obvious, and next to her stood Kiba and Shino, awaiting instruction. Kakashi looked back towards the village one last time, enjoying its familiar streets, after which he gave the hand signal and they all began running. There was nothing to do on the way but for Kakashi to think over what seemed like the complete failure of his mentor career. The forming of team seven was a bitter-sweet memory now. The only students he'd ever passed ended up being the only students he'd ever fail so miserably. What was clear to Kakashi, though he would never display it the way Naruto did, was that he would get his two missing students back. Miserable he may be, but he couldn't afford to give up either.

It took less than half an hour, running at full speed, to reach the very outskirts of Konoha territory, and climbing on top of the roofs of the houses up ahead, they came to a halt. The division point was reached. Going through the motions quickly, Kakashi summoned his entire pack of ninken, his ninja dogs, just enough for each of them to have at least one, and an extra pair to go around sniffing on their own, inconspicuously.

"Naruto, because you are a target of the Akatsuki you're coming with me and Pakkun. Hinata, your Byakugan will also be necessary so us three will move together. Kiba, you have Akamaru so I doubt you need any help. As for Shino, you two should get along just fine," Kakashi finished off, nodding his head towards the ninken closest to him.

The remaining ninja dogs were dispatched separately, instructed to simply look for Sasuke's scent or listen for anything they might be able to report back about Itachi or Akatsuki movements in general. The rest of them were on their way now, returning to the streets and splitting off into different directions, each hoping they can find some trace of Sasuke before anything disastrous happens.

* * *

Chirping and the light of dawn surrounded Sakura and Juugo on all sides from deep within the forest. The denseness of the trees made abstract patterns with the light streaming in from between the branches, creating a perfect contrast between the shimmer of new light and the darkness among the trees. Such a serene atmosphere felt out of place to Sakura, as she followed Juugo on his way to converse with various birds. Questioning him about this ability, he said that he had no idea exactly how he was doing it, merely that animals tended to respond well to him, and from his experience they had a very acute sense for chakra activity as well as sharp, regular senses.

"I'm guessing they don't understand speech, so how do you tell them what you need them to do?" asked Sakura.

"All I know to explain is that it is chakra based. Almost like transmitting signals and they receive them, and somehow through that a message is conveyed. I'm sorry, that's as best as I can word it."

So Juugo stopped as a small, dark bird landed on his shoulder, and while petting its small head with one finger, Sakura could indeed feel a spike in his chakra activity. Similar to the rumble of a heartbeat, going at the same rhythm. He did this several times, and Sakura was no less than fascinated by the process, even though it seemed relatively simple and unintelligible to her. Although, her thought process kept being interrupted by waves of anxiety. This was the first time she had been separated from Sasuke since they had deserted the village. As needy as it may be, she felt extremely uncomfortable at the thought. She needed to have her eyes on him to know he was safe. She needed to have his back in a fight.

"Sensitivity to animals means sensitivity to natural energy," spoke Juugo softly, "and yours is so erratic it's evident you worry about Sasuke."

Lips parted slightly, Sakura focused her attention on a squirrel who had felt comfortable enough to come down from a tree and stare at the two of them. She wasn't quite sure how to respond, since her worry was evident, as was her care.

"How far would you go for him?" he asked eventually.

"What do you mean?" Sakura questioned, though she was sure she already knew the answer.

"Where do you draw the limit to what you would do for Sasuke?"

Nearly three years ago, when they left the village, desertion seemed like such a significant offence. Like she could hardly top it, yet she agreed to do it for the sake of helping Sasuke. Then came their time with Orochimaru, and the various things she'd done there. And now she was hunting down someone, which would lead to a battle ending in death. The question had far too many implications for Sakura's liking. It had to be answered though, for Sakura's sake above all else.

"I think I don't. The things I know I'd never do, like harm a loved one, I know Sasuke would never ask of me. But everything else? Depending on the circumstances, I'd follow him anywhere."

It sounded like the naive speech of a little girl in love. Running a hand through her short, pink hair, Sakura was painfully aware of how pathetic she made herself sound. It was more complex than that. The only person she owed an explanation to was herself, of course, but she wanted to be able to explain it clearly to others. How she knew that Sasuke deserved what she had to give.

"I hurt a lot of people. I wish I had a choice in the matter, but I didn't, so that sounds strange to me that given the choice, you'd choose to do otherwise."

The statement didn't sound judgemental, but it made Sakura feel like she was under a microscope.

"I'm sorry about your situation. I've made my choices, and I shall live with them. But, trust me when I say that even though it might seem like I am following Sasuke blindly into the dark, I weigh all of my decisions carefully. If guilt will come later, I will live with it."

Several of Juugo's birds returned, interrupting the conversation, though Sakura's answer seemed to have pleased the tall man. Looking back at her with a frown, Juugo said that his birds have all felt very distinct chakra signatures belonging to Akatsuki members leading to various hideouts, the most recently used one not far from where they were.

* * *

Massive sword in hand, Suigetsu attacked the two men guarding the door before they even registered he was there. Sasuke's stupid no kill policy was something he suddenly recalled, and even though he knew the Uchiha would never find out, he stuck to it anyway. He resorted to knocking out one of the men, kicking him in the stomach hard enough that he flew backwards, his head hitting on the wall behind him with a disturbing cracking noise. The other man was hit with the back of the sword, Suigetsu swinging fast enough that the force of the hit broke the skin on the man's forehead as well as knocked him out instantly. With a thud, the second opponent – though neither were suited for that title – hit the ground.

Stepping over them, Suigetsu then kicked the door open, scanning the room and seeing, right on the side opposing the door, the man he was looking for. He looked old and ragged, sitting on a stained armchair and holding some kind of a notepad in his hand. Once he noticed Suigetsu, and especially his weapon, all blood drained from his face, and he got up instinctively as if he could outrun the man who was dubbed a killing machine.

"What do you w-want?" the man asked, scared out of his mind.

He looked frightened enough that he would give out information as it was, but Suigetsu could not resist toying with the man. Bolting towards him, he pinned the terrified man to the wall using the hollowed out part of his sword, the perfect half circle being close enough to his skin to give the extra edge this interrogation needed. Beads of sweat running down his forehead rapidly, the man's erratic pleas let Suigetsu know he was in the perfect mental state to begin.

"I hear you're a bookkeeper for Akatsuki's Kakuzu, is that right?"

"H-he's dead! I heard it weeks ago, he died fighting the leaf, I know nothing of his affairs!"

An interesting bit of information, for sure, the fact that Konoha and their little team were also picking off Akatsuki members.

"What do you know about Itachi Uchiha, in that case?"

The man's eyes widened, and his body language spoke of even more discomfort.

"Nothing, I swear! I know who he is, everybody does, but I only kept track of Kakuzu-san's affairs!"

"is that so?" Suigetsu asked, menacingly.

Though he was pretty sure the man knew nothing of import, and that he wouldn't be killing him, nothing was stopping him from having a bit of fun before heading back.

* * *

Fluctuating around Sasuke were two chakra pulses, though carefully hidden to the point where they were almost unnoticeable. He recognized neither, so he knew he hadn't run into his brother by a lucky accident. Calmly, he spoke out to the presence behind him to reveal itself, turning around in a nonchalant way. The man who came out wore an orange mask with the pattern of a swirl, as well as the Akatsuki cloak. Sasuke was instantly put on his guard.

"He looks a lot like Itachi, doesn't he, Deidara senpai?" spoke the masked man.

Behind Sasuke appeared the other man, Deidara, garbed in the same uniform save for any kind of mask.

"Stay out of my way, Tobi, and only do as I told you to do when I give you the signal, hm."

Looking sideways at each man in turn, Sasuke prepared himself for the upcoming fight. A kind of serious aura enveloped their surroundings, Sasuke's enemies being made aware of how serious the young Uchiha was. He'd find information about Itachi if it was the last thing he'd do, though he felt confident he could defeat the Akatsuki scum and find his true enemy soon enough. Not wanting to waste any more time, Sasuke reached for his katana, and within the same moment sped towards Deidara, who was also on high enough alert that he managed to dodge the thrust of the sword. Once in the air, he took out a white substance from a hip pouch and inserted it into, of all things, a mouth in the middle of the palm of his hand. As he was beginning to descend, out came a small shape, a moving shape. Before Sasuke knew it, the shape enlarged, and Deidara landed on the back of his big white bird.

A flying enemy would present a problem. Sasuke's range was short, and using his speed and various abilities he could handle a moderate range at most. The bird remained in one position in the air, its big wings making the grass below it move in all kinds of directions. Sasuke began circling its position from below, always keeping in mind the enemy who was behind him as well. When he calculated that he was close enough, he formed a quick seal and used his manipulation of the chidori, channelling it through his katana to increase the length, and struck at the bird. Deidara was quick enough to notice the attack and flew out of range, frustrating Sasuke, but one of the bird's wings was slightly damaged from the contact with his chidori sword.

Suddenly, the masked man, Tobi, materialized from below the ground right next to Sasuke, who struck with his katana in the direction of the man, but whose attack went through him in an unnatural way. He felt like air. It felt like hitting nothing, and it had the same effect. Tobi moved away with exaggerated panic.

"I did it, Deidara senpai! I placed them all."

He walked without truly touching the ground, until he reached the edge of the forest, where it seemed like he once again had weight to his body. Deidara looked down, pleased, as if he'd already won. Irritated and anxious to get this over with to get information about Itachi, Sasuke questioned Deidara in a harsh tone, asking about his brother's whereabouts.

"Try to come and get it out of me, you arrogant Uchiha," was all Deidara had to say.


	23. Art Is A Bang

Stepping outside from the shadows of the forest, the man seemed vaguely familiar to Naruto. It took him a full moment to register who he was looking at. The angular shape of his face, at least the small part of it that was being revealed from beneath the cloak, looked like Kabuto's, but the man's aura was completely unrecognisable, frantic, erratic. Naruto and his companions immediately tensed up. Ever since Orochimaru's defeat, there have been no reports on the missing nin's most loyal companion.

"What are you doing here?" Naruto shouted at the man.

Taking out a small handbook, Kabuto began dangling it in front of their faces, explaining how it contained a lot of what they needed to know on the Akatsuki organisation. He had been a spy for them, and Orochimaru, as an ex member, also held valuable information he'd shared before the time of his death. It all seemed very suspicious, considering they were enemies, and Kabuto, stepping forward once more, was offering it to Naruto.

"You see, Naruto, it's all because of you that I've found myself. I had no loyalties, I was used as a spy by whomever, whenever. Orochimaru-sama became all I knew, and after he'd died I had no idea what to do with myself. But then I remembered you and your yammering about becoming Hokage, and how hard you keep pursuing your goal even if you've started out as nothing but a despised orphan."

Taking off his hood, Kabuto revealed a horrifically deformed face, at least on the left side. Scaly, like a snake, and an unnaturally translucent colour. The eye on the left side of his face had been altered as well, the colour too light, the shape all too similar to Orochimaru's. The image made Naruto's blood run cold and freeze in his veins. Kabuto was no longer human. Not fully.

"So I'm through being Orochimaru-sama's follower. I've absorbed the little that was left of him. As you can see, he's trying to take over. Once I take control. Once I finally become stronger than him, I can go after Sasuke for having killed him. Until then, I leave you this," he said, throwing the book towards Naruto.

It landed near his foot, and he had to restrain himself from kicking it right back at the man. Kakashi looked like he wanted to attack, like he was barely holding back from capturing Kabuto. He turned around to walk away, and something told Naruto a fight would be futile, even with the odds in their favour.

"Wait!" Naruto screamed after him.

Kabuto turned reluctantly.

"Tell me about them. Sasuke and Sakura-chan."

Naruto felt pathetic, having to almost beg for information on his friends. His family. Kabuto was one of the last people to spend significant time with them, so Naruto had to know.

"I wouldn't worry too much about them, for now," he admitted, "not until I get my hands on Sasuke for killing Orochimaru. And on Sakura for betraying my trust."

* * *

Deidara's contempt for Sasuke, and they way he spat out the Uchiha name more than said it, unsettled Sasuke. The power of the clan often resulted in this kind of sentiment, and he sure as hell wasn't going to tolerate it now that he was strong enough to break the teeth of anyone dumb enough to be openly hateful against his clan. As far as Sasuke was concerned, once he was done extracting the information he needed, Deidara would no longer have use for his insolent tongue.

Katana in hand, ready to strike, Sasuke gave himself a boost with his chakra, focusing his chidori through the blade, making it as thin as possible as to widen its range. Before the process was complete, however, Sasuke noticed a bundle of the white substance – clay, Deidara kept calling it – falling in his direction. Sensing the explosive about to go off and knowing there was no saving himself otherwise, Sasuke quickly bit the tip of his thumb, a slight coppery taste lingering on his tongue. Quick seals followed, and almost too late did he summon the snake that wrapped itself around Sasuke tightly enough to absorb the full force of the explosion, the only damage done to Sasuke being the slight ringing in his ears.

Landing almost on the exact same spot he had jumped off of, Sasuke noticed the same type of reaction from both men. The masked man, Tobi, tensed up when the Uchiha was close to hitting the ground, and Deidara had an unmasked look of disappointment once Sasuke was on solid ground once again and remained unharmed. So, Sasuke thought, there must also be some sort of bombs beneath the ground. It would explain Tobi's earlier meandering beneath the surface of the earth.

"If you hate Uchihas as much as you seem to, why not just tell me where my brother is?"

"Hmph, that arrogance of yours is not helping. Your battle is with me, so focus on that. You won't live long enough to need information on Itachi."

Sasuke summarized the situation in his own head, trying to find a way to beat Deidara fast. He suspected there were bombs below, location unknown to him. He also had an enemy flying above – long rage, who could throw another set of explosives in his direction while keeping himself away from any damage using his big, irritating bird. That would be a problem. His plan was formulated fast. It had to be. Because Deidara was clearly impatient, and immediately assaulted Sasuke with a series of smaller explosives.

Using his katana, impaling it in the ground where he knew it was safe, Sasuke stepped onto it, propelling himself upwards and dispersing the electricity within his chidori in a smaller, more manageable form. Almost like electricity needles. He focused on impaling the small bombs falling towards him, hoping they would be deactivated. Luckily, the clay bombs continued to fall towards the ground, now useless. While still in the air, taking advantage of Deidara's anger at failing, he once again activated his chidori, his target being somewhat within range. Severing part of a wing, Sasuke, as well as Deidara's clay bird began falling towards the ground.

Landing back on his katana, Sasuke struggled to keep his balance while focusing his attention on Deidara. The old bird landed with a heavy thud, and with the impact, all of the bombs began detonating, setting off the ones nearest to them in an endless cycle. Sasuke had to get away fast.

He hadn't thought of using the curse seal in a long time, not since he figured out that he could control it. Its presence was altering him constantly. He could feel its slight pull towards anger, despair, hatred. He had plenty of that to call his own, but the curse's influence was something he wanted to avoid. It felt monstrous. Now, with bombs going off below him and the ground breaking apart, all he could do was transform. He could use the wings, after all. Recovering his katana, he began to fly, also using the wings to clear away some of the thick dust around him. He could hardly see a thing, but there was the distinct shape of a smaller clay bird farther away from him, and the outline of Deidara's body on top of it. Somehow they had both escaped.

"I don't have to kill you. If you tell me where Itachi is, this fight can end right now," Sasuke called out into the dust.

It was clear Deidara would not give up. Sasuke merely wanted to anger the man enough that he would charge blindly, bringing him close enough to hit. The areal battle had become frantic. Sasuke was growing frustrated as well, both men being persistent in their onslaught. Sasuke's cursed seal form allowed him to move more freely around Deidara, chidori and katana both used efficiently to hit, or at least distract his target. In turn, Deidara retaliated violently as well. Wanting to take the blond man by surprise, Sasuke landed on the small bird and engaged him in hand to hand combat before Deidara had any chance to make more bombs to use against the Uchiha. Knocking Deidara to his knees, Sasuke realized his mistake just a little too late, as the Akatsuki member took a large bite out of the bird, and spat out a bomb he set off immediately, blasting them both off, scorching Sasuke's skin in the process.

Barely managing to minimize the damage from his fall, Sasuke quickly rose to his knees and scanned the area. Now that the dust was settled, he could see an immense crater created by Deidara's bombs, the land being deformed and completely ruined. Using clay from his fallen bird, Deidara kept making bombs and throwing them at Sasuke. A repetitive yet effective method, as Sasuke had no choice but to dodge. He was quite literally knocked out of his cursed seal form, so he resorted to summoning two moderately sized snakes, using them almost as elastics, binding himself to the trees that remained standing behind, dodging the attacks.

Tobi was almost entirely forgotten until Sasuke heard him yell.

"Deidara senpai, you idiot, don't do that!"

Turning his attention back to Deidara, Sasuke was in time to observe the last of the hand seals, as well as a large chunk of explosive clay missing from his fallen bird.

"I'm not letting another Uchiha run free. You did not beat me, you hear?! I'm going to teach you the true meaning of art."

And with those words, Deidara had began to bloat. His body expanding, the explosion building up beneath his skin, altering him in ways Sasuke had never seen before. Even the anticipation of the impact was so great, he had barely managed to form any hand seals.

* * *

Naruto, ever since the encounter with Kabuto, had been wandering around with his team, the effort to find anything or anyone, let alone Itachi Uchiha, turning out to be fruitless. Stopping to stretch, he took the water flask Hinata offered with a shy smile and thanked her. The grand explosion he saw miles away, engulfing the sky, strong enough to be felt from all the way over where Naruto was currently gawking from made him nearly choke. Dropping the flask, he looked at either of his companions alarmed, Kakashi's eyes confirming Naruto's feeling. Without any proof, he knew somehow this had something to do with Sasuke and Sakura. Naruto Uzumaki began running before the others even got a chance to process the sight before them.

* * *

"And there was never any explanation for it? Your curse seal form just happened spontaneously?" Sakura asked Juugo, as they were headed back after a rather relaxing day in the forest.

"Not a clue. I began turning violent at a young age, and my parents, not knowing what to do with such a child abandoned me. I'm not sure I can blame them for it."

Sakura frowned at the thought. Juugo might be hard to handle in a fit of rage, but she could not imagine a parent abandoning their child, especially if said child was not mean spirited, but genuinely had a need for help. She asked if she could feel around the area of his neck, where the strange markings appeared to spread from. Juugo, being extremely tall compared to her, had to come down to one knee but agreed to it. Feeling around the area with the tips of her fingers, Sakura could tell there was something strange, but could not place the exact source.

"If I were to describe the feeling," she began, "it would be alike a charka tumour. A malformation that channels all of your energy into the will to be, well, stronger than whomever it is that you're facing it, enemy or not."

"Can you do anything about it?" he asked, hopeful, instinctively wrapping his hand around Sakura's wrist.

"Right now? No. But I promise, once this is over with, I will try," she smiled down at him, bringing her other hand to pat his gently.

All of a sudden, interrupting their shared moment of hopefulness was the earth rumbling beneath them. Sakura lost her balance and fell over next to Juugo who had also been rattled. Looking upwards to see what the source of the disturbance was, Sakura saw the great, big explosion nearly blinding her with its power and radiance. She realized it came from the area Sasuke was walking through.

"Juugo..." she trailed off, voice cracking.

Taking a look at her face, making brief eye contact, he seemed to understand what she could not say. Helping her get up, he simply nodded towards the area of the explosion and took a step forward.

"No," she held him back with one hand, "Sasuke-kun would find a way to our meeting spot. I know he would."

That was because nothing had happened to him. That explosion could have killed an entire village with its size, but Sasuke was not dead, or injured. Sasuke was waiting for them. He had to be. It was all Sakura chanted in her head as she ran, using her chakra to boost her speed, controlling it so poorly she could feel the skin on her feet starting to burn up.


	24. Forgetting To Breathe

**AN: **I _needed_ to write a chapter like this one sooner or later, so I chose sooner. Now I think I've become an addict and will have a hard time not randomly inserting them all over the place. Hope you guys enjoy this one as much as I enjoyed writing it.

* * *

It had taken Naruto's group a good while to get to the explosion site, and the dust was still not done settling. The forest now simply ended, becoming the edge of an enormous crater in the earth. Hinata's Byakugan was not detecting anyone for miles, and Pakkun, who had began running around, trying to pick up any scent at all, couldn't smell a single trace of Sasuke or Sakura.

"If they were anywhere near this area, the chances that they're still..." Kakashi trailed off, seeing the look on Naruto's face.

"Nothing's wrong with them, Kakashi sensei. Sakura-chan is too smart and Sasuke too much of a stubborn idiot to die in a place like this. They're not dead."

The part left unspoken was that Naruto was sure he'd feel it if they had died. He felt the absence of his friends daily, but even so he knew they'd reunite. If anything happened to them, Naruto would _feel_ it. No doubt about it.

"I'm not sure there's anything we can do here, Naruto-kun," spoke Hinata softly, "there's no one left to trace."

So they left behind the ashes, the smoke, and the vague feeling of death hanging in the air.

* * *

Counting down the seconds before they'd reach the designated meeting area, Sakura tried to focus on nothing but her breathing. She could tell Juugo had a hard time keeping up with her frantic pace, but she wasn't sure she could slow down even if she wanted to. Dodging a tree she almost ran into in her madness to reach the place she knew for a fact Sasuke would be waiting at, she exited through a clearing in the forest and saw a strange sight up ahead. Finally stopping, the ache in her legs hardly registering, she held in her breath.

Up ahead was an enormous snake, falling apart. Turning to nothing. A heavy smell hung in the air, like burning flesh. Sakura stepped around the large creature, trying to discern exactly what was going on. It was most likely a summon of Sasuke's, and the situation became clear when the poor, disintegrating creature finally turned to mere dust, revealing a heaving, coughing and wounded Sasuke Uchiha, kneeling on the ground.

Noticing the sunlight coming through, now that his shield was gone, he looked straight at Sakura. She was on her knees before she knew it, carelessly pushing him on his back, hugging him so tightly gravity had no part in how close their bodies were pressed.

"Sakura, I can't breathe," he said, though he sounded amused.

Pulling away from him, helping him up into a sitting position, she asked him to tell them what had happened while she healed him. And so he did. Recounting the tale of how he encountered the two Akatsuki members left Sakura in awe. The shinobi part of her was feeling proud at how Sasuke had defeated such a strong enemy. The Sakura part of her wanted to dig a hole in the earth and bury both of them beneath it, so that nothing could touch Sasuke ever again. The contradicting feelings made it hard to breathe.

"I think you might be overdoing it," Sasuke said, gently removing Sakura's hands from his chest.

"I think that's for the medic to determine, Sasuke-kun," she responded, but knew he was right.

Helping him get up to his feet, she was reminded of Juugo's presence when the man also tried to help pull Sasuke up. Their tall teammate suggested he stay behind, tell Karin and Suigetsu what had happened, while Sakura leave with Sasuke and go back into town, so that Sasuke could rest. The Uchiha was tired enough that he began walking without another word, Sakura's arm supporting him, wrapped tightly around his back.

It seemed to take forever for them to reach the town, and by the time they finally did, she could feel Sasuke's legs about to give out. Quickly acquiring a room at the first inn they could find, she rushed Sasuke inside, allowing him to lay down on the floor while she unrolled the bedding and set it all up. Once he was all set up, Sakura felt like she could finally breathe. As soon as his breathing had gotten slower, heavier, indicating he had already fallen asleep, she could feel herself drifting away as well.

* * *

Sasuke Uchiha did not open his eyes once he had woken. He could still only sense Sakura's chakra, meaning the others hadn't yet arrived. She was sleeping peacefully next to him, somehow having made her way towards him, head resting on his chest. Inhaling deeply, he replaced the memory of the forest and his snake, Manda, burning away, with Sakura's familiar scent. He had been so close to dying it almost didn't register properly in his mind. He had almost lost his chance to avenge his family. Almost lost the chance to wake up to a sleeping, overly concerned Sakura.

Almost dying seemed to have caused Sasuke some temporary kind of insanity, because having the pink haired girl so close next to him awakened strange reactions from his body. The smell of her hair, her fingers touching his bare chest, the gentle way in which her body moved as she inhaled and exhaled. As if on cue, she sleepily rose up on one elbow, looking at him with a fresh dose of concern. He caressed her cheek and smiled, heart skipping a beat at the thought he almost lost this.

"You're oddly affectionate," she noted, red spreading beneath Sasuke's fingers.

"I'm oddly alive."

Simultaneously the wrong and the right thing to say. Sakura's eyes widened for a moment, revealing to Sasuke the worry she had tried not to dwell on. Then, before Sasuke could say any words of comfort, her lips were on his, desperately searching for the assurance that yes, he was there. He was safe.

Pushing her on her back, manually placing her legs on either side of his hips, he leaned forward and captured her lips again, both hands gently holding her head in place, thumbs making small circles on the soft skin on her cheeks. She raised herself up, arching her back, and wrapped both arms around his neck, pressing herself as close to him as possible. They'd kissed before, many, many times. But they'd never kissed like this. He could taste the desperation of her tongue. He could feel his own need to prove he was really there, really touching her, in his every move. Sakura broke away from him, gasping for air, and he realized they'd both literally forgotten to breathe.

She looked beautiful, he thought, her pink hair spread around her head wildly. That intense, flushed colour of her face looked almost obscene, considering their current positions, and all Sasuke could focus on was how she looked like she could hardly maintain that small distance between her lips and his.

"You're right," she spoke playfully, "perhaps I overdid it with the healing."

Laughing, Sasuke mentally noted another thing only Sasuke was able to bring out in him. The laughter being one of many.

"Is that a complaint?" he raised one eyebrow at her.

"Never."

Something in the atmosphere seemed to change though. The Uchiha could feel the urgency to touch each other dissipate, the high dose of adrenaline from the fear and the uncertainty nearly gone from the both of them. Sakura, almost as if she had forgotten he was there, touched her lips and smiled sweetly, turning an even more intense red. Briefly, Sasuke wondered if the previous encounter was just the natural result of all they'd both experienced in the last few hours. He was never one to have such uncontrollable urges, that was for sure. But he looked back down at the pink haired girl and realized that the feeling of needing to touch her was always there. He was just very good at focusing his attention elsewhere.

A distinct feeling was pooling in his belly, urging him to continue kissing her, and perhaps take things even further. It was precisely why he pulled himself farther away from her, ignoring the disappointment he had caused himself. Never taking his eyes off of Sakura's, he witnessed the entire thought process she had gone through: confusion – disappointment – embarrassment and finally realization.

"Right, the others are supposed to come find us," she said.

"Unfortunately, yes," Sasuke muttered.

"I think you should sleep some more. You might feel fine because I've healed you, but your body still needs a lot of recovery time."

She assumed the medic voice, the tone she used to emphasize how important what she was saying was, and he resisted the urge to respond with a "yes ma'am". Knowing full well that he should probably be resting, he did not protest, but could not help but sneak in one final surprise kiss. The look on Sakura's face made the sweetness of the moment even more pronounced. Laying his head back down on the pillow, trying his hardest to ignore his body still telling him to do anything else but sleep while Sakura was still in the vicinity, he focused on the reason why he needed all the rest in the world. He focused on what he had to do, and how important it was to survive the battle, instead of just win it, because there was a lot more he wanted to do now that there was someone worrying for him.

* * *

"So, Sasuke is fine?" asked Karin, after Sakura quickly updated the group on the – as far as they knew – non eventful day.

"Yes, he is still resting inside," was Sakura's answer.

"He's… sleeping?" Suigetsu inquired.

Confused, Sakura simply cocked her head to the side questioningly.

"You get hours to yourselves and you make him go do bed?"

The implication nearly knocked Sakura out cold, perhaps because it was too close to what had nearly happened. Juugo glanced at her, and she nearly ran back inside the inn because as he'd told her before, he was quite good at reading natural energy. One of the reason he had so little need to speak, she imagined. And thank goodness for that, because Sakura did not need him voicing any kind of opinion on how erratic and… heated, Sakura was feelign at that moment.

"See why I always hit him?" added Karin with a smirk.

"Oh I can also see that he likes it," said Sakura, staring blankly at Suigetsu whose mouth jaw dropped.

"That's some bullshit if I've ever heard any."

Glancing at Juugo, almost as if to confirm her suspicions about their two teammates, he nodded subtly at Sakura, trying hard not to show his amusement. Karin and Suigetsu had already began bickering about the implications of Suigetsu's possible masochism, and Sakura couldn't help but smile to herself, thinking that in spite of the horrifying experience she'd gone through, and more importantly, Sasuke had gone through, they could still have moments like these.

Shushing everyone as they headed inside, Sakura noticed Sasuke who had already woken up, giving her a look she could not give a name to. It was gone almost instantly, when he noticed it himself, but it made Sakura's heart skip a beat. She wasn't sure she was ready for the can of worms they'd opened. She wasn't sure she could handle doing anything but kissing Sasuke for the next two years of her life.

"I'd repeat myself and say get a room, but you two already wasted that opportunity."

Whatever sadistic pleasure Suigetsu derived from tormenting Sakura in this way was shut down by Sasuke who, in a completely uncharacteristic moment, began teasing Suigetsu about Karin, in a similar way Sakura had done before. The familiarity the all shared quelled her nerves about the future. It made her feel nothing but grateful. It let her know that despite all the insanity, she'd found a home she didn't need to return to, because she was already with it.


End file.
